As expected, the heat wave made the weekend of Saturday June 18 and Sunday June 19 an unprecedented episode in terms of the values recorded across the country. According to Météo-France measurements, Saturday was, with an average temperature of 27.4°C, day and night, the second hottest day ever for the month of June. “It is, on a national scale, completely unprecedented. We had only experienced one warmer day in 2019, but it was at the end of June. It is therefore remarkable as to the precocity of this episode ”analyzes François Gourand, forecaster at Météo-France.
Behind this national average, extreme temperatures and absolute records, all months combined, were recorded in several Météo-France stations: 42.9°C were recorded in Biarritz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), i.e. 2.3°C more than the record heat wave of 2003, recorded then in August, 40.6 ° C in Rochefort (Charente-Maritime) or 39.2 ° C in Tarbes, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
Many monthly records, for June, were also beaten on this scorching day on Saturday, in particular in Cazaux (Gironde), with 41.9 ° C, 40.5 ° C in Bordeaux, 40.3 ° C in Dax. “It should be emphasized, even if the temperatures remain a little higher in the South, that these high temperatures have been recorded on a national scale, with extremely rare peaks such as 40°C in Angers”, adds François Gourand. Nantes and Tours also recorded 39.1°C, while Poitiers and Blois saw the mercury climb to 39°C.
On Sunday, the heat wave moved east. The temperatures were high as in Chambéry or Aix-les-Bains, with 36.7 ° C, and Langres (Haute-Marne) with 35.3 ° C, absolute records again. Finally, Météo-France reports several stations which broke monthly records for two days in a row, such as Niort (Deux-Sèvres) with 40.1°C, Cognac (Charente), 40°C, Bergerac (Dordogne), 39 .5°C, or even Ploermel (Morbihan) with 38.7°C.
strong gales
The day after this unprecedented weekend, Météo-France predicted a “quiet” on the front of the heat wave. On the other hand, major stormy episodes were expected from Sunday evening, in particular in New Aquitaine, in Limousin, Lorraine (Grand-Est) or even in Ile-de-France.
During the weekend, strong winds raged on the territory, causing in particular the death of a kitesurfer, projected against the window of a building in Villers-sur-Mer (Calvados). This sudden drop in temperatures, accompanied by a change in the direction of the winds, occurred on the Normandy and Atlantic coasts, such as in Biarritz, where the temperature dropped by nearly 12°C in six minutes, dropping from nearly 42 ° C to just over 30.3 ° C shortly before 5 p.m. Saturday, the wind reaching more than 60 km / h. For François Gourand, this is explained by “the sinking of a cold front, coming from the Atlantic, i.e. cold air which suddenly replaces warm air, with wind rotations, strong gusts”.
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