On June 22, 2026, two young children—ages 2 and 4—were found dead inside a parked car in Carpentras, a small town in southeastern France. It was the hottest day of a severe heatwave, with temperatures reaching 42°C (around 108°F).

A parked car in direct sunlight becomes dangerously hot very quickly. The inside temperature can jump 20 to 30°C higher than the outside air in just minutes. Young children cannot cool themselves the way adults can; their bodies cannot handle extreme heat. This is why leaving a child in a parked car, even briefly, is life-threatening.

This heatwave did not come out of nowhere. France had already endured the warmest spring on record that year. Earlier in May, the country set another record: the hottest day in May that France had ever measured, at 24.8°C average across the nation. France Info reported that by the time June arrived, a new heatwave had already started on June 17. The rest of Europe faced similar conditions that week.

French weather forecasters (Météo-France) had warned the public. They issued their highest-level heat alert—called a "canicule" alert—which triggers emergency plans to help vulnerable people like the elderly. Cooling centers open, and authorities check on people at risk.

After a devastating heatwave in August 2003 that killed about 15,000 people in France, the government created a plan called Plan Canicule to protect people from deadly heat. The system works at the neighborhood level: officials track vulnerable residents, open cooling stations, and make sure help reaches people who need it. But these systems cannot prevent what happens inside a private car or home—that depends on what individual people choose to do.

Heatwaves in France are changing. Over the past ten years, they come earlier in the year and last longer than they used to. A heatwave in June that reaches 42°C is no longer rare. As heat waves become more common and more intense, the rules and warnings that were designed for older, less frequent heat patterns may need to change too.