2023-08-22 18:08:37
For 12 days in a row, the temperature has exceeded the 34°C threshold in Lyon. “Unheard of”, according to Frédéric Nathan, forecaster at Météo-France. Just like the 42°C forecast this Wednesday in Toulouse, the 28.6°C (awaiting confirmation) last night in Nice or the unusual 14°C recorded Monday at the Aiguille du Midi, in the Massif du Mont-Blanc… at 3,847 meters above sea level. . We already knew that the heat wave which is suffocating a good part of France was one of the six latest ever recorded. He is now certain that it is also the worst, the “most intense”, in its category. “On average in France, it has never been so hot so late,” says Lauriane Batté, climatologist at Météo-France.
The furnace that awaits us
And the end of the tunnel is still far away. Wednesday noon, 15 new departments will switch to heat wave red vigilance, bringing their number to 19, which has never happened since the birth of the indicator in 2004. And the peak we hoped for this Tuesday is not yet reached and temperatures will continue to rise over a large southern half of the country. Concretely, “tomorrow [mercredi] a very significant heat peak will occur in the Southwest. It will continue on Thursday and could win the Landes, announces Frédéric Nathan. The temperatures will drop very slowly for the day on Friday but it will really be necessary to wait for the weekend for there to be more breathable temperatures in these regions”.
To mark with a red stone
We have to wait to consolidate the data but this heat wave, late or not, should remain in the annals for a while. “If the forecasts for the next few days are confirmed, in the Center East, we would be on the most intense episode, and the second longest episode after July 2006, and one of the most severe after the heat wave of 2003 », explains Lauriane Batté. For the lower Rhone Valley. In the lower Rhône valley, it would be “one of the most intense episodes with June 2019 and we would be on one of the most severe episodes”. For the former Midi-Pyrénées region, it could quite simply be “one of the most intense, long and severe episodes ever recorded”.
The stormy degradation which should put an end to this nightmare will approach the north-west of France on Thursday, with phenomena which may be “locally violent” and accompanied by hail. And, little consolation, next week the mercury will even drop “a little below seasonal norms”: 22°C in the northern half, 25 to 26°C in the south. In comparison, we will all have the impression of having the air conditioning on full blast, in the garden or on the balcony.
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