The third heat wave of the year in France reached its peak this Friday with between 38 and 41°C in the country.
In the area of the worst French forest fire at the moment, near Landiras, in Gironde, it should still be 37°C on Friday, after 41°C on Thursday, where 1,100 firefighters are fighting day and night.
The sun will be scorching over the whole country, with 19 departments from the south-west to Finistère placed in heat wave orange vigilance by Météo-France.
The departments concerned by this vigilance are mainly located in the west of the country.
Thus, Finistère, Morbihan, Loire-Atlantique, Vendée, Deux-Sèvres, Charente, Charente-Maritime, Haute-Vienne, Dordogne, Gironde, Lot-et-Garonne, Lot, Tarn-et-Garonne, Tarn, Haute-Garonne, Gers, Landes, Pyrénées-Atlantiques and Hautes-Pyrénées are concerned.
🔶 19 dpts in #vigilanceOrange
Stay informed on https://t.co/rJ24zzmmy4 pic.twitter.com/G4QEWXpKkv
— VigiMeteoFrance (@VigiMeteoFrance) August 12, 2022
The 40°C threshold had only been exceeded once in the 1960s and once in the 1970s in France, but is destined to become more frequent.
This year, Perpignan has already suffered 42 tropical nights, with temperatures over 20°C, compared to an average of 15 in the 1960s, says Jean-Michel Soubeyroux of Météo-France.
Rain is expected on Friday evening
The summer of 2022 in France is already approaching what “an average mid-century summer” would be in one of the pessimistic scenarios of global warming, he told AFP.
Even in an intermediate scenario, around 2050, the inhabitants of Lyon, for example, could experience 35 tropical nights a year, instead of 14. This Friday morning at 5 a.m., temperatures are still flirting around 20°C around the Garonne, in Gascony, Vendée, around the Rhône valley, indicates Météo France, which adds: “We note more than 25°C in the Gers, Lot-et-Garonne, Gironde, Charente.
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In the afternoon, the maximum temperatures will be 38 to 40°C in Occitanie, New Aquitaine and Pays-de-la-Loire.
35°C will be reached in the other French departments, even if slightly lower temperatures will be displayed in the North and North-East with between 30 and 34°C in general.
As the drought hits the country due to the high temperatures, an episode of rain is expected on Friday evening, with thunderstorms over the Alps and the Pyrenees, but only from Saturday evening over the rest of France.
