A large southern part of the country is undergoing, this weekend, temperatures between 34 ° C and 40 ° C, and which will be able to reach 41 ° C from the foot of the Cévennes to the Basse Vallée du Rhône, according to Météo-France.
For Saturday, 28 southern departments are already on orange heat wave, underlines Météo-France which signals some “remarkable” temperatures noted at 3 p.m.: 38 ° C in Lyon-Saint-Exupéry, 36.8 ° C in Montélimar (Drôme) or 35.8 ° C in Bordeaux-Mérignac.
On Sunday, “the heat will still rise from a notch in the south” and the alert will be extended to almost the entire half of the country, with now 42 departments in orange heat wave, also likely to be further.
As for the day on Monday, it will be characterized by an “rise in an extremely hot air mass on a large part of the country”, including north of the Loire, and will undoubtedly be “the hottest national scale”, said the forecastist. “The peak is expected between Monday and Tuesday. (The heat wave) should last until next weekend, ”he comments.
1,240 km of traffic jams
After a first heat wave from June 19 to July 4, this episode is the 51st heat wave recorded in France since 1947. “There is 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, “said Lauriane Baté, climatologist at Météo-France.
The episode, which is accompanied by a “high” danger of forest fires around the Mediterranean, coincides with a weekend of chassé-crossed between motorkeepers. A peak of 1,240 km of traffic jams has been reached shortly before noon, beyond the levels already considered as “exceptional” by smart bison.
