Begun on July 31, the third heat wave of summer continues in this second week of August. With peaks at 40 ° C possible everywhere in France, the drought, already historic, will worsen.
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June, July, August … The heat waves follow one another this summer. After a month of July historically hot and dry, August left on the same bases. A third heat wave (started on July 31) continues in this second week of the month. Less intense but longer than the previous one, a scorching peak will extend throughout France from Wednesday August 10.
Temperatures will exceed 30 ° C during the day everywhere in France, with the exception of the edges of the Channel, with large parts of the territory where they will exceed 35 ° C. The southwest of the country, in particular the Landes, the Gironde as well as the edges of the Garonne, are likely to be the most affected, the heat wave gradually extending towards the northwest and the north. Locally, tips at more than 40 ° C will be possible everywhere in France.
Météo-France announces a triangle of fourteen new departments in orange heat wave ranging from the Loire-Atlantique to the Hautes-Pyrénées via the Dordogne. They are added to the four departments already concerned (Gard, Vaucluse, Gironde and Lot-et-Garonne). “This third episode should end on Sunday [August 14], to return next week to temperatures closer to seasonal norms,” said Christine Lac, manager of permanence for forecast and researcher at Météo-France, during A press briefing Tuesday August 9.
If it is so hot, it is because of the deployment of a highly located anticyclone in the northwest of Europe, precisely above the British islands. It promotes dry and warm weather by “trapping” the air from North Africa.
Pluviometric deficit
These scorching temperatures will aggravate the situation of drought that affects the territory, while water restrictions are currently in force in 93 metropolitan departments (of which 68 are in crisis).
Symbol of the gravity of the current drought, 2022 is for the moment the hottest year ever raised (depending on the temperatures from January to July). Since July 17, the soil humidity index has dropped below that recorded during previous historical droughts (1976 and 2003). As Agnès Ducharne, hydrologist and climatologist research director at CNRS explains, “it is a drought, we can say, exceptional, the most important since the existence of modern statements [in 1959]”.
Several factors can explain it. There is obviously the weather and the lack of rain. Since January and this month, meteorologists have observed a rainfall deficit compared to seasonal averages. Added to this is a relatively dry winter, which has harmed the underground tablecloths and caused a deficit of water in the soils. The climatologist adds in this regard that “the passing rains, as intense as they are, have almost no effect to hydrate the soils”. These are so dry that they find it difficult to absorb water. This nevertheless has the advantage of bailting the lakes and watercourses a minimum.
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