2023-08-18 18:34:50
In Lyon on August 15, 2023. JEFF PACHOUD / AFP
As the month of August progressed, a large part of the French could have slowly started to look into the start of the school year. But a heat wave will install a large part of the territory under a leaden screed. Twenty-eight departments have been placed on heat wave orange vigilance by Météo-France from Saturday August 19. They are located mainly on a diagonal going from Gers to Haut-Rhin and extending to Savoie and Drôme. high temperatures, “sustainable and intense”according to the meteorological institute, could approach 40 degrees Celsius, or even exceed them, in the days to come, especially in the South-East and in the Rhône valley, with heat gradually rising towards the north of France.
Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Global warming is shaking up the cultural identity of regions
While the nights could remain very hot in many places, such as in Lyon and throughout the Mediterranean South, Météo-France anticipates a dip from Tuesday or Wednesday, even if“There are still a lot of uncertainties about the midweek”admitted Christelle Robert, forecaster at Météo-France, Thursday. “This new episode promises to be the hottest of summer 2023, warned the meteorological institute in a statement released Thursday. It could also be one of the latest episodes of heat experienced by France with such a level of intensity at the end of the summer season. »
To follow the evolution of the situation, Matignon met for the first time, Thursday at the end of the day, an interministerial crisis unit. On Friday morning, the national Heatwave info service information platform was set up and the two heads of the executive transmitted messages of vigilance. “Let’s take care of each other”wrote the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, on his social networks, while his Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, asked the French to pay attention to the “vulnerable people”.
“A bit of a hybrid event”
Several sectors are already trying to anticipate the consequences of this heat wave. EDF says it plans to reduce the production of its nuclear power plants in Bugey (Ain) and Tricastin (Drôme), in order to avoid excessive heating of the waters of the Rhône which cool their reactors. The Ligue 1 football matches, Olympique Lyonnais-Montpellier Hérault SC and AS Monaco-RC Strasbourg, scheduled for 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, have been postponed to 7 p.m.
Measures to protect against runaway temperatures caused by a heat dome. This atmospheric phenomenon will gradually settle in France, Switzerland, part of Spain and Germany. It is associated with high pressures aloft which concentrate warm air. Blocked near the ground, this air warms up day after day by compressing itself. Two other heat domes, linked to the one positioned over Europe by a particularly winding and intense at altitude, intensifying at the moment over Greenland and the United States, causing abnormally high temperatures there too. “In Europe, we have southwest winds that feed the dome. In terms of process, we have a somewhat hybrid event, with this dome and heat transport from the South”analyzes climatologist Christophe Cassou (CNRS).
You have 51.09% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.
#late #heat #wave #sets #France #symptom #global #warming