According to Météo-France, “this situation is likely to last for several days in these regions” while the tempics have dropped elsewhere in the country.
Le Monde with AFP
After staggered towards the east of the country on Tuesday and having dropped more than sixty absolute heat records, the heat wave focused on the south-eastern quarter of France on Wednesday, July 20. “Wednesday, the hot weather will only concern the south-east quarter of the country, with night temperatures still remaining very high”, according to Last Bulletin de Météo-France , for whom” this situation risks last several days on these regions “.
In the meantime, new absolute heat records were recorded on Tuesday along the Côtes du Nord-Ouest, as in Dieppe (Seine-Maritime), whose station, opened in 1949, recorded 40.4 ° C, Against a previous record of 40.1 ° C on July 25, 2019. Another absolute record in Pas-de-Calais, with 39.6 ° C in Boulogne-sur-Mer (37.9 ° C on July 31, 2020).
While all of Western Europe suffocates under the extreme heat, the United Kingdom exceeding for the first time in its history 40 ° C, Météo-France had lifted early on Tuesday, the red heat wave on the fifteen departments of The Atlantic facade, where the maximum alert was in force. At the end of the afternoon, 58 departments remained in orange alert and eleven in yellow vigilance, over a large east half of the country, with temperatures up, between 37 ° C and 40 ° C in the east and storms locally violent planned in several regions.
The rhythm of heat waves accelerates
The figures speak for themselves: according to Météo-France, we have been in the 45 e heat wave in mainland France since 1947 and their rhythm is accelerating. Over the past 35 years, they have been three times more numerous than over the previous 35 years. Since 2010, only the year 2014 has been spared and the current wave is already the second this year, after the episode, very early and intense, of June.
The average maximum temperatures on Monday on France (in 30 reference stations throughout the territory) was the second highest ever recorded, with 37.6 ° C on August 5, 2003, which had peaked at 37.7 ° C, in the heart of a historic and murderous heat wave.
The thermometer is mounted up to 42.6 ° C in the Landes, in Biscarrosse. Thus, 64 absolute heat records fell, mainly along the Atlantic facade, up to Seine-Maritime where 38.2 ° C were reached in Cap de la Hève, north of Le Havre. “It was unfortunately something expected,” said the France-Presse Matthieu Sorel agency, climatologist at Météo-France.
But for the specialist, even more than the number, “what is significant is the amplitude” between old and new records. “More than four degrees in Brest, it’s colossal.” At the forefront of Brittany Mercury, in fact, flew, from 35.1 ° C in August 2003 to 39.3 ° C Monday.