A heat wave: How are temperature records calculated in France?

• Temperature records were reached in France on Monday August 11.
• To measure them, Météo-France follows a specific protocol imposed by the world meteorological organization.
• A team from 1 p.m. TF1 went to Toulouse (Haute-Garonne) to reveal the methods to you.

41.6 ° C in Bordeaux, 41.5 ° C in Romans… In the middle of a heat wave, four southern stations broke their absolute temperature record on Monday August 11. This weekend, the first had fallen into other cities in France. “A record like that, we had never seen again. In the evening, it took a long time, a lot of time going back down. This night, we had very, very hot, it was very, very, very complicated to bear”explains a resident of Prades-le-Lez, in the report at the top of this article. He made 42.2 ° C in this commune of Hérault on Sunday.

But do you know how these data is measured? Direction Toulouse (Haute-Garonne) to follow a climatologist, which expects the Mercury to get to get one again in the coming days. To establish its statements, Météo-France uses sensors and calculates the temperatures which then indicate the famous records. In France, 2,500 are installed and measure in real time, or depending on the location, every minute, or even every six minutes at the maximum, temperatures.

The measurement criteria are very precise

The standards are very strict and imposed by the world meteorological organization. To avoid “distort” The calculations, the measurement area is 1.50 meters above the ground in white shelters that we see in the report at the top of this article. “We can have temperatures that can quickly rise if we put the thermometer only in the sun”explains Simon Mittelberger, climatologist for Météo-France in Toulouse. In addition, this protects the sensor “Precipitation and radiation from the sun and the earth”, Indicates the site of the meteorological organization (new window). In the shelter, we find “A temperature probe” et “A humidity probe”details the climatologist.

These conditions are identical all over the world so that the data can be compared. According to Météo-France, the highest temperature ever recorded in France is 46 ° C. It was measured at the Vérargues (Hérault) station on June 28, 2019.