It is a new tool to try to limit the number of forest fires. Météo France unveiled this Friday its first map of the new forest weather.
14 departments are affected by a yellow level risk. This is the second level on a scale of 4, ranging from green to red to yellow and orange, as with other vigilance maps. In the case of forests, this corresponds to a moderate risk. "Weather conditions do not significantly increase the risk of forest and vegetation fires starting and spreading compared to normal summer conditions. The risk of fires can be locally high," says Météo France about the yellow level.
The regions concerned are Pays de la Loire, Centre-Val de Loire, Grand Est and Île-de-France with the following departments: Loire-Atlantique, Maine-et-Loire, Indre-et-Loire, Sarthe, Loir-et-Cher, Cher, Loiret, Eure-et-Loir, Aube, Essonne, Yvelines, Val-de-Marne, Hauts-de-Seine and Paris. The Bois de Boulogne and Vincennes are on the territory of the capital.
/Weather France
The areas with a moderate risk of fire are all in the northern part of the France. Since mid-May, this is the part of the France that suffers a significant deficit, or even an absence of rain. Since, in addition, the temperatures rise and some days the wind blows quite strong, the soils suffer from a surface drought that worsens day after day, despite the rainfall of April and early May.
☀💨 The sun and the northeast wind that last on the northern half are not without consequence. Soils are becoming dry again on the surface and the trend will continue. (Map @Windycom) pic.twitter.com/NkwN2Klb4q
— Guillaume Séchet (@Meteovilles) June 1, 2023
Conversely, in the South, after months of pronounced drought, especially near the Mediterranean, regular rainfall occurs. No department is on alert.
For Saturday, Météo France anticipates, for the moment, an improvement in the situation. Only Yvelines would remain concerned by a yellow level. The rest of the metropolis would be in green level, a danger considered low. "The weather forecast conditions and the latest precipitation mitigate the risk of starting and spreading forest and vegetation fires," details Météo France regarding this level.
/Weather France
Forest weather will now be broadcast every day from June to September. It was originally scheduled to be made available on Thursday for the first time. The broadcast has been postponed to this Friday to be concomitant with the visit of the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, in the Gard, where he goes to take stock of the measures to fight and prevent forest fires after a very bad year 2022.
To establish its map, Météo France aggregates different data. Rain, humidity, temperature, wind, drought and weather are taken into account. The goal is to provide prevention to the public, but also to inform the emergency and intervention services upstream. Nine out of ten fires are man-made, mostly due to carelessness.
