France braces for 40°C heatwave as temperatures soar to record levels
Twenty-three departments across France have been put on high alert with temperatures expected to hit over 40°C by the weekend.
KATHMANDU: The mercury reached between 30°C and 35°C in the southern half of France as a heatwave that arrived from Spain made its way across the country.
However, the worst is yet to come with temperatures expected to go over the 40°C mark by Friday.
Forecaster Météo-France has activated the orange “heatwave alert” for 23 departments across the south-west, from Anjou to the Pyrenees, including a “heat dome” in the Drôme/Ardèche regions.
A heat dome occurs when an area of high pressure remains over the same region for days or weeks, trapping very warm air underneath, like a lid on a pot.
In the wake of the hot air mass that came from the Maghreb via Spain, maximum temperatures have been fluctuating between 30 and 35°C in the south of the country.
Earliest heatwave
“This is the first time that the heat wave has reached a peak [so early], with temperatures of 35°C to 39°C across much of the country, from the Garonne to the north-east, including the Rhone Valley, the Paris region and the Centre Val-de-Loire,” according to Tristan Amm, a forecaster with Météo-France.
Attributed to global warming, heatwaves are multiplying around the world including in France, where this latest episode is the earliest on record.
The heatwave is also having a devastating effect on the dryness of the soil after a particularly dry spring and winter, driving up the risk of forest fires.
