From Le Monde:

The 11-day August heat wave that ended on Monday (17th) was deemed a ‘rare event’ by Météo-France. It ranks among the most severe ever experienced in the south of France, rivaling the historic August 2003 event, according to the French weather forecasting adminstration. It was also the second-longest recorded in August.

It was considered less severe than in 2003 in that the country was unevenly impacted, with the northern half, relatively speaking, spared. From the story:

In Toulouse, Bordeaux, and Carcassonne, average maximum temperatures were 1°C to 2°C higher than in 2003, while in Strasbourg and Paris, they were 3°C to 4°C cooler. Across France, the intensity of the recent heat wave was comparable to those of August 2023, July 2022, or July-August 2018.

And

Temperature peaks were especially remarkable in the southwest, where records fell: 41.6°C in Bordeaux, 42.3°C in Angoulême, and 42.1°C in Bergerac (Dordogne). The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region also sweltered, with 42.6°C recorded in Romans-sur-Isère (Drôme) and 39.7°C in Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne (Savoie).

And

Even after sunset, the heat did not abate. Tropical nights – when temperatures remain above 20°C – became frequent, preventing bodies from recovering. Météo-France recorded six such nights in Bordeaux, seven in Carcassonne, eight in Nîmes, ten in Toulouse, and eleven in a row during the heat wave in Nice, Sète (Hérault), and Perpignan. Unprecedented temperatures were observed: 27.8°C in Narbonne (Aude) during the night of August 15-16, and 23.6°C on August 13 in Bergerac.

The story notes that the heatwave affected the entire European Mediterranean region.