Monday was the hottest day on record in France after Aug. 15, with the national heat index reaching 26.63 degrees, the Meteorological France agency announced Tuesday to AFP, amid an exceptionally late heatwave for the season.
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The previous end-of-summer heat record dates back to 2012, when the National Thermal Index (the daily average of the average air temperature recorded at 30 weather stations representing the region) reached 26.44 °C on August 19.
And the French Meteorological Service said that the value reached on Monday, although the peak temperature has not yet been exceeded, is 5.8 degrees Celsius above the normal rate for this season (during the period 1991-2020).
This temperature remains far from the absolute record of the National Thermal Index, which was set at 29.4°C on July 25, 2019. But the highest average temperatures are generally measured in late July and early August.
France has been experiencing one of its most recent heatwaves since August 17, and temperatures are expected to remain very high in the large southern half until Thursday.
In France, heat episodes after 15 August are rare: only six have occurred since 1947, all in the 21st century (2001, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2016 and 2017), confirming climate scientists’ predictions about the effects of climate change. climate caused by greenhouse gas emissions.
Monday was particularly stuffy. At dawn, the thermometer already showed 30 degrees in Perpignan.
In the afternoon, the temperature reached 35 degrees in Bordeaux and Marseille, and 37 degrees in Lyon, Perpignan and Toulouse, according to Météo-France, with a maximum reaching 42.4 degrees in Vinsobres (Dreme), which is the absolute record for this region.
On Tuesday at 5 a.m., the temperature was 29°C in Nice, 26°C in Marseille, 25°C in Toulouse, 24°C in Cognac and 23°C in Lyon or Clermont-Ferrand, according to Meteorological France.
At noon Tuesday, four divisions will enter a heatwave red alert, a very rare threshold passed for the first time this year, while another 49 will enter an orange alert.
Local records are still at risk of breaking, as temperatures are expected to reach 40 to 42 degrees in Drome and Ardèche.
The highest temperature ever recorded in France is 46 degrees in Vérargues, in Hérault, on June 28, 2019.
