No question of storing caps and foggers this weekend. A new peak of intense heat hit France on Friday, with up to 42 ° C expected in the South-West, prelude to a lasting heatwave that will make the population stick out and make the vegetation suffer.
Faced with this heat wave which should last until the middle of next week, Météo France has placed 45 departments in orange heat wave vigilance, on a wide band stretching from the Pyrenees to the Belgian border, passing through the Center and the Paris region but sparing the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts.
The mercury has already started to rise on Thursday, with 37 ° C in Bordeaux and Toulouse, and the thermometer has not dropped below 20 ° C overnight in many stations.
Friday promises to be even more stifling, with highs between 37 and 40 ° C over a large half of the country, and peaks of up to 42 ° C locally in Occitanie, Pays-de-Loire, Poitou-Charentes and Aquitaine.
Cool places taken by storm
In Bordeaux, the 3,500 m2 “water mirror” on the banks of the Garonne, which has become a popular meeting place for freshness for 14 years, should be taken by storm, even if it has been deprived since Thursday of its function + fogger, Covid obliges. Adults and children will still be able to lie down or wade in the thin carpet of water. In some cities like Nancy, the parks are open later in the evening to enjoy an island of freshness.
This peak on Friday resembles the short heat wave of last weekend when the once extraordinary 40 ° C mark was briskly crossed in many resorts in the south of France.
However, this new episode will be "lasting", unlike the previous peak. These repeated heat waves are one of the clearest markers of global warming.
Risks for fragile people
In addition to the sometimes scorching nights, this poses a much greater risk to the most fragile organisms.
Newsletter - Most of the news
Every morning, the news seen by Le ParisienI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to enable you to receive our news and commercial offers. Learn more
The Ministry of Health has therefore opened its “heat wave” telephone platform (0800 06 66 66) to answer questions from the population, called upon to protect themselves from this heat which can be fatal. Although progress has been made since the 15,000 deaths in 2003, nearly 1,500 deaths have been attributed to the heatwaves of summer 2019.
Protect yourself and your loved ones, watch over the most vulnerable, follow simple recommendations: the heatwave episode that is beginning involves everyone's caution and everyone's vigilance.
Government and State services are mobilized.https: //t.co/mx9fIxZw17
"Protect yourself and your loved ones, watch over the most vulnerable, respect simple recommendations: the scorching episode that is beginning involves everyone's caution and everyone's vigilance," Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Twitter.
SNCF heat wave plan
The northern half of the country will not be spared by this heat wave. Thus, Lille could experience an “unprecedented” series of five days at more than 35 ° C, with “tropical” nights (above 20 ° C).
Even longer sequence of 6 days above 35 ° C in Paris. "It would be unheard of outside of 2003 (9 days in August) since 1873," tweeted Météo France forecaster François Jobard.
To cope with this heat, the SNCF must activate its heat wave plan on Friday, which provides for reinforced monitoring of equipment and infrastructure. She also calls on travelers to stay hydrated.
But this exceptional situation, remind the health authorities, does not exempt from barrier gestures and the wearing of a mask, compulsory in more and more spaces, to fight against the spread of Covid-19.
"France is holding on, the French must hold on", said Minister of Health Olivier Véran when asked about the difficulty of reconciling these anti-Covid measures with the heat.
A challenge for farmers
This episode should not reach the intensity of the two exceptional heatwaves of 2019, marked by an absolute record at 46 ° C, nor the duration of that of 2003, according to Météo France.
But it follows the warmest start of the year (January-July) on record since 1900. And for soils and plants, it is superimposed on an already very pronounced drying out, after in particular the driest month of July since at least 1959.
A real challenge for farmers, already hit hard by the exceptional droughts of 2018 and 2019. And an increased risk of fires.
Faced with this situation, water use restrictions were taken in 72 departments affected to varying degrees, according to the official website Propluvia.
This heat wave is also accompanied in certain regions by ozone pollution, a classic pollutant of heatwaves which easily penetrates the respiratory tract. Paris thus set up differentiated traffic on Thursday.
Humans are not the only ones to suffer from this heat. At the Sainte-Croix animal park in Rhodes (Moselle), "refreshing sweets", large ice cubes with fruit or fish, are distributed to bears, lemurs, gibbons and raccoons.
