No respite from heatwave in south

Météo-France has again extended its official heatwave warning for the south coast of France, with 15 departments now on its second-highest alert level - warning that no relief from the heat it likely until Sunday.

The national forecaster's latest alert, published at 6am on Friday - which put Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (04), Hautes-Alpes (05), Alpes-Maritimes (06), Ardèche (07), Bouches-du-Rhône (13), Corse-du-Sud (2A), Haute-Corse (2B), Drôme (26), Gard (30), Hérault (34), Isère (38), Pyrénées-Orientales (66), Rhône (69), Var (83) and Vaucluse (84) on orange alert - lasts until Saturday at 9pm.

During the day on Friday, temperatures are expected to soar up to 38C inland, and could hit 40C locally, especially in Corsica - where they are expected to remain above 30C overnight. Forecasters expect no dip until Sunday.

On Thursday, the mercury again soared to 40C in Carpentras in the Vaucluse, and 42C in Sartène in southern Corsica. Meanwhile, night-time temperatures remained above 20C in Lyon, 24C in the Rhône valley, and between 23C and 26C in the PACA region.