Temperatures of 35°C to 39°C during the day and stifling nights… Such is the difficult program of the new episode of heat wave which hits the south of France on Monday before heading north on Tuesday and Wednesday. This is the third time this year that a heat wave has occurred after that of June and that of July during which heat records were broken.
This Monday, five departments are placed in orange vigilance (level 3 out of 4) by Météo France: Ardèche, Drôme, Gard, Pyrénées-Orientales and Vaucluse. They should go through a “new heatwave episode whose intensity and duration will be less than those of the previous episode”, said Météo-France on Sunday. Ten other departments in the south-eastern quarter of France have been placed on yellow alert (level 2 out of 4).
Already on Sunday, the temperatures were high from Roussillon to Provence. 36°C were recorded in Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône), Montpellier (Hérault) and Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales) at 4 p.m., and 38°C in Nîmes (Gard). In the night from Sunday to this Monday, it was still, at 5 a.m., 27.2°C in Perpignan, 24.6°C in Nîmes-Courbessac, 25.5°C in Avignon (Vaucluse) and 23.6°C C in Montelimar (Drôme).
Spikes at 38°C are expected this Monday afternoon in the departments in orange vigilance, 39°C in the Gard. The episode of high heat should “extend on Tuesday and Wednesday over many regions”, in the West and in the Rhône valley, forecasts Météo-France. These maps provided by the meteorological organization make it possible to visualize the expected temperatures.
On the scale of France, the peak of heat is expected for Wednesday with maximum often greater than or equal to 35°C and peaks at 39° or 40°C in the southwest. The Weather Channel even anticipates peaks of 42°C.
However, this peak should be “brief in many departments”, according to Steven Testelin, forecaster at Météo France, and cooler air could arrive Thursday from the northwest, as this animation shows.
Météo France recommends watching over the elderly, people with chronic illnesses or mental health disorders, people who regularly take medication and isolated people. Dehydration or heat stroke (fever, hot, red and dry skin, headaches, nausea) can also affect athletes and people who work outdoors.
The Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur region experienced its hottest month of July since 1947. On the scale of France, July 2006 remained warmer. The country also experienced its driest July since the start of reliable measurements in August 1958, confirmed Météo France. This poses problems for crops and access to water.
New fires in the South
This comparison between two satellite photos taken in July 2001 and July 2002 and provided by the European Union shows just how much water is lacking in French soils.
In the Jura, new water restrictions have been decided. The watering of lawns and any green space is prohibited, as is the filling of private swimming pools, or the washing of vehicles. Even the departments of Paris and its inner suburbs will be placed on “vigilance”, an unusual situation.
Extreme heat and drought also go hand in hand with forest fires. South of Nîmes, fanned by the Mistral and the Tramontane, a fire destroyed 370 ha of pine forest on Sunday evening, and six firefighters were injured, one of them seriously. Another fire broke out at the end of the afternoon about twenty kilometers from Marseille, near Pennes-Mirabeau.
The Gironde prefecture has announced that the department will once again be placed on red alert for a risk of fire, and this “until further notice”. The movement of people and vehicles in the forest is prohibited between 2 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Access to the forests is also strictly prohibited in the Vaucluse, and in 4 of the 25 massifs of the Bouches-du-Rhône.
This multiplication of episodes of high heat is a direct consequence of global warming, according to scientists. Greenhouse gas emissions (linked to energy production, transport, industry) are increasing in intensity, duration and frequency.