2024-08-13 15:57:06
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DEFINITION – While Europe experienced the second hottest July, France was not affected by large fires like in Greece or the United States.
Pictures of the Parthenon in Athens (Greece), with the smoke wall in the background, are going around the world. Since Sunday, a violent fire has been rapidly approaching the Greek capital, so much so that areas in the northeastern region such as the city of Marathon have been evacuated by the competent authorities. While Greece experienced the hottest July on record since 1960, France decided to send 180 civil defense firefighters, 55 trucks and an airplane to Greece on Monday. Gérald Darmanin justified this decision by recalling that the work “don’t take our safety away”and that “We have full capacity to respond to wildfires that may occur during the weekend of August 15” In France.
Since the beginning of summer, large fires have protected the French region despite heat waves. This weekend, Météo-France has moved again “high risk” fire Group eight sectors in the southern half of France, from Gironde to Var through Haute-Garonne and Gard. There is no effect. Fabio d’Andrea, CNRS researcher at the Laboratory of Dynamic Meteorology and specialist in heat waves, recalls that three things must be taken into account to detect a forest fire: “the weather is very hot”, “Drought” and presence “of the wind”.
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“Heat wave conditions are not necessary in France”
If countries around the Mediterranean basin have been affected by particularly violent heat waves – Italy is struggling with one of the worst droughts in the last 50 years – France is an exception. “There are hot conditions in other countries, but not necessarily here”Fabio d’Andrea said. «In Greece it has been hotter and drier in recent weeks than in Franceadds Cathy Clerbaux, research director at CNRS. The same in the United States and in Canada .» After a particularly wet spring, and an early summer where depressions followed sunny days, the chances of seeing the lights began to decrease.
“We have come out of the drought we have been in for a year or two thanks to the rain that has rained since the beginning of the year, continued the researcher. This could have moistened the soil, with the exception of Pyrenees-Orientale .» As a result, there is none “dryness at eye level”close to the surface.
“We could have big fires in the coming weeks”
A second heat wave is underway in France, which will end on Tuesday afternoon, however, bringing three things together to witness the fires. “This type of season has favorable conditions and we can expect anything, Fabio warned Andrea. We could have big fires in the coming weeks if the three things come together again. “
Repeated heat waves are an unmistakable sign of global warming. They are expected to increase further, longer and more, and the French studies are illustrative of this: we observed before 1989 “on average one heat wave every five years”while “since 2000 they have occurred with annual frequency”according to Météo-France.
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