The heat wave continues to spread in France

2023-08-19 15:47:00

The heat wave continues to spread in France. After decreeing heat wave orange vigilance for 28 departments on Saturday, Météo-France extended its alert to a total of 49 departments for Sunday. Temperatures of between 35 and 40°C are expected over a large southern half, from Bas-Rhin to Gironde, as indicated by AFP.

In its bulletin published Saturday afternoon, switching 21 additional departments to orange vigilance, Météo-France indicated that “tomorrow Sunday, temperatures will still be slightly higher, generally reaching 35 to 38°C in the south of the country, sometimes 39°C, and possibly exceeding 40°C in the lower Rhône valley”.

By way of comparison, Météo-France observed for this Saturday, around 3 p.m., that “temperatures in the departments in orange are generally between 30 and 35 degrees in the south-west, 32 to 37 degrees in the south-eastern quarter of the country, locally 38 at the peak. The maximum values ​​had not yet been reached for the day, however.

To these 49 departments in orange vigilance, are added 13 departments in yellow vigilance for the day of Sunday. These are departments bordering those in orange vigilance, as well as Paris and its inner suburbs.

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An ardent crossover

This episode of heat occurs in full crossover of the holidays. For this eighth weekend of the summer, Bison Futé had classified the day of Saturday red in the direction of returns and orange in the direction of departures throughout the territory. A peak of 980 km of traffic jams was reached shortly after noon, before dropping to 475 km shortly before 3 p.m.

In the south-west, an electrical breakdown on the Hendaye-Bordeaux railway axis, a priori unrelated to the heat, also “very disturbed” traffic according to SNCF with trains canceled and up to 6:50 a.m. delay for TGVs.

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A drop expected on Thursday

For the sequel, “The high temperatures will continue until the middle of next week, with a peak occurring between Monday and Wednesday depending on the region. Then, a drop in temperatures is expected from Thursday. All this still to be confirmed »predicts Météo-France.

Nationwide, this episode promises to be the hottest of the summer of 2023, also as one of the latest with such a level of intensity. This heat stroke of exceptional intensity for the end of August led Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne to call for caution on Friday after having convened an interministerial crisis unit the day before.