The south of France is plagued by a new heat wave, the second of this summer, which is expected to extend again on Sunday and last until the middle of next week, according to the forecasts of Météo France. 28 departments were placed in orange vigilance “Heat wave”before an alert extension on Sunday.
From the Dordogne to Haute-Savoie via Cantal and Drôme, a large southern part of the country will experience a weekend marked by high temperatures between 34 ° C and 40 ° C, and which can reach 41 ° C of the foot of Cévennes to the lower Rhône valley, according to Météo France. In the Southeast, the nights become very hot from the Pyrénées-Orientales to the Rhône Valley, with minimums between 21 and 25 ° C.
Sunday, “The heat will go up a notch in the south” And the alert will be extended to almost all of the southern half of the country, with 40 departments outside Corsica in orange heat wave, at this stage until midnight, according to Météo France.
Monday, the hottest day
As for Monday, it will be characterized by a “Raised an extremely hot air mass on a large part of the country” and will undoubtedly be “The hottest nationwide”said the forecaster. The very strong heat could temporarily concern the regions north of the Loire, while they maintain themselves at a very high level and still intensify in the southwest where the 40 ° C could be regularly affected, or even exceeded.
The heat wave could continue until the second half of next week in the Southeast, still according to the forecasts of Météo France on its site.
After a first heat wave recorded from June 19 to July 4, this episode is the 51st heat wave recorded in France since 1947. “We note an acceleration of the occurrence of heat waves over time. This trend is well linked to climate change, which has a strong impact on temperatures in France ”AFP Lauriane Baté, climatologist at Météo France told AFP.
A “high” risk for forest fires
The episode is accompanied by a danger ” pupil “ Forest fires around the Mediterranean periphery, while the fire that traveled 16,000 hectares in the Corbières massif and still mobilizes 1,400 firefighters on Saturday will not be under control before Sunday at the end of the day, according to firefighters.
He also coincides with a weekend « difficile » chased crossed between motorists. Saturday, classified orange at the national level in both directions and announced as the most busy, has kept its promises with a peak of almost 1,240 km of traffic jams reached shortly before noon, beyond the levels already considered as “Exceptional” By smart bison. The most affected axes are the A9 and the A7, according to the same source.
The SNCF, for its part, indicated that it has deleted several round trips on the Bordeaux-Marseille and Paris-Clermont lines in order to“Anticipate potential air conditioning breakdowns related to very high temperatures” in his oldest trains. “All of the customers concerned benefit from the exchange or reimbursement without fees of their tickets”specifies the SNCF.