This Thursday, 34 departments of the South and East are in orange heat alert, remarkable this year by its intensity and duration. The phenomenon should last several days.
The heatwave was installed Thursday on a third of Franceand must last several days, with 34 departments in orange vigilance and temperatures already high at dawn in the Southeast, according to Météo-France.
There was already 27.5 degrees in Nice and 28 degrees in Perpignan at 5 in the morning. The rise of the thermometer should be set up from the Southwest and win by Friday almost the whole country.
“Remarkable, intense and lasting heatwave”
Only the northwestern border of the hex should stay cool, below 35 degrees. We should reach or even exceed 40 degrees in places in the south, with very hot nights.
Hot temperatures are expected to persist “at least until early next week”.
🔶 34 dpts en #vigilanceOrange
Restez informés sur https://t.co/rJ24zzmmy4 pic.twitter.com/fbSGYd1bpT
— VigiMétéoFrance (@VigiMeteoFrance) 2 August 2018
The alert concerns departments in the East and South. Ain, Doubs, Haute-Garonne Gironde, Jura, Lot-et-Garonne, Haute-Marne, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Moselle, Haute-Saone, Savoie, Haute-Garonne Savoie, Tarn, Tarn-et-Garonne and Vosges have joined the Alpes-Maritimes, Ardèche, Aude, Bouches-du-Rhône, Corsica-du-Sud, Haute-Corse, Côte -D’Or, Drôme, Gard, Hérault, Isère, Pyrénées-Orientales, Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin, Rhone, Saône-et-Loire, Var, Vaucluse and the Territoire-de-Belfort.
“This is a remarkable heat, intense and durable, especially in the Southeast,” said Olivier Proust, forecaster at Meteo France interviewed by AFP. “We have to go back to 2006 to find a more intense heat wave” across the country, he continued.
Wednesday afternoon, temperatures were high, near 30 to 32 degrees in Alsace, and between 33 to 38 degrees in the Rhone Valley, says Météo France. The Mediterranean rim records temperatures between 31 and 34 degrees on the coast, between 37 and 39 degrees further inland.
More than 40 degrees in Nîmes
The threshold of 40 degrees was exceeded for the first time of the year in Nîmes Wednesday afternoon. Thunderstorms should hit Franche-Comté and Alsace on Wednesday night, with possible falls of hail, but without lowering the thermometer. “This episode heatwave will be very extensive and strong for the weekend” and “these scorching temperatures should persist at least until the beginning of next week,” according to Météo-France.
Saturday and Sunday, the thermometer should be around 35-39 degrees “south of the Loire to the north-east and the Mediterranean, just sparing the Atlantic coast and a fringe north-west of the country,” said Olivier Proust.
“Lessons”
Monday, the temperatures will be “a little step below”, before starting again on Tuesday and Wednesday. The recommendations are to avoid going out at the hottest hours, to wear light clothing, to drink enough water, to close shutters and windows during the day and to ventilate at night, to go to places where possible. air conditioning, avoid physical activity and moisten the body.
“We learned from the heat waves of 2003 and 2006 and the state services are fully engaged,” said Health Minister Agnès Buzyn during questions to the government in the National Assembly. Excess mortality reached 1011 deaths in 2006.
Durant cette période de #canicule, nous devons accorder une grande attention aux personnes les plus fragiles. Les services de l’Etat veillent à ce que les structures et les dispositifs d’accueil soient mobilisés pour repérer et venir en aide aux personnes sans domicile. @BFMTV
— Agnès Buzyn (@agnesbuzyn) 1 August 2018
She recalled that the elderly and children were particularly fragile but that “the last heat waves have mainly killed people in the street, homeless”.
