Meteo France has just extended Tuesday 23rd July 2019 at 4pm its orange heatwave alert in 19 new departments. Severe thunderstorms are reported in five departments.
There are now 81 departments that are placed in an orange alert by Meteo France, including 80 in the heatwave and five storms , according to the latest bulletin published at 16h Tuesday 23rd July 2019.
🔶 81 dpts en #vigilanceOrange
Restez informés sur https://t.co/rJ24zzmmy4 pic.twitter.com/KPcMOT93hJ
— VigiMétéoFrance (@VigiMeteoFrance) 23 July 2019
Regarding the heatwave, the forecaster added 19 departments to the previously established list.
Here are the new departments involved in the hot episode: Aisne (02), Alpes-Maritimes (06), Ardennes (08), Eure (27), Ille-et-Vilaine (35), Loire-Atlantique (44), Marne (51), Meurthe-et-Moselle (54), Meuse (55), Moselle (57), North (59), Oise (60), Pas-de-Calais (62), Bas-Rhin (67), Haut -Rhin (68), Seine-Maritime (76), Somme (80), Vendée (85) and Vosges (88).
Thus, almost all the departments of metropolitan France have switched to orange this Tuesday, with the exception of the tip of Brittany, Eastern Pyrenees, Herault and Corsica.
The risks of violent storms still concern five departments: Calvados, Manche, Mayenne, Orne and Sarthe.
A midi ce mardi il fait déjà 35 à 36°C dans l’ouest avec localement 37 en Loire-Atlantique. Carte @infoclimat #canicule pic.twitter.com/vOG2XgDvNt
— Keraunos (@KeraunosObs) 23 July 2019
Temperature records
Locally, absolute heat records were broken in some cities, especially in Bordeaux where the night had never been so hot with 24.8 ° C and where the heatwave record of 2003 was beaten in the afternoon with 41.2 degrees. Here are the highest values recorded by Météo France at 4.30pm on Tuesday:
- 42 ° C at Brive,
- 41.2 ° C in Bordeaux (absolute record),
- 40.7 ° C Angers (absolute record)
- 40.1 ° C Rennes (absolute record)
- 40 ° C Blois (absolute record)
- 39.8 ° C Poitiers
- 39.7 ° C in Agen and Cognac,
- 39,5 ° C in Montauban
- 39.3 ° C at Niort,
- 38,8 ° C in Nantes
Avec 40.1°C relevé à l’instant, la station @meteofrance de #Rennes #Bretagne bat son record absolu!
— Sébastien Brana (@SebastienBrana) 23 July 2019
The national temperature record should however not be exceeded: he had been beaten at the end of June with 46 ° C in the Hérault .
Heavy thunderstorms Tuesday night
“The stormy situation has not started yet,” says Météo France. The five departments concerned by storm vigilance (see above) should expect the phenomenon in the evening of Tuesday.
“They may be punctually violent with strong wind gusts (of the order of 100 km / h), hail (sometimes quite large), high intensity of precipitation (of the order of 20 to 30 mm / h) and a strong electrical activity.”
The runners of the Tour de France affected
In Paris, a “heatwave” plan is being implemented with the opening of “refreshed rooms” in public establishments, as well as the installation of temporary fountains and other foggers. A series of measures intended especially for the elderly, major victims of the heatwave of the summer of 2003 which had made 15 200 dead in France.
Other European cities have taken similar measures. For example, in Austria, Vienna supported the development of a new application called “City oases”, which allows urban people to locate on a map areas suitable for “refreshment”: green areas or swimming, mirrors …
The Tour de France riders are more frequently supplied with three distributions of cans of water per hour or 1.5 litres.
Read also: Tour de France: Caleb Ewan wins the 16th stage, Julian Alaphilippe still in yellow
Another victim of the heatwave, the electricity company EDF was forced to stop this week the two nuclear reactors at the Golfech power station in southwestern France.
The differentiated traffic was renewed for a second day Wednesday in Ile-de-France and Lyon and set up in Lille.
Never seen since 2003 for Thursday
Similar to Tuesday are expected Wednesday, with a minimum in the morning between 19 and 24 degrees.
Thursday is reported as the hottest day of the week with expected maximum temperatures above 40 °C over a large northeast quarter of the country in particular. “The average temperatures across France for this day could then equal the highest value reached during the heatwave of 2003,” warns Météo France.
The lull is expected for Friday, where “the temperatures will fall dramatically on the west of France”.
This heatwave – the second in less than a month after the end of June – accentuates fears of extreme drought ahead.
Already in France, 73 departments, out of a total of 101, had to introduce water restrictions. To help farmers, Paris will request the advance payment of a portion of European aid, a cash advance of one billion euros.
