Seventy-eight departments of mainland France have been under an orange heat warning since noon on Wednesday. The national meteorological service Météo-France reported in its morning bulletin at 6:00 that the heat would intensify on Wednesday and the area of its spread would continue to expand. The maximum temperature in the departments under the orange warning will range from 36°C to 39°C. Only a small part of the northeast and a few high-altitude areas will escape the intense heat.
On Thursday, the number of departments under the orange warning will increase to 80, with temperatures exceeding 35°C. Meanwhile, all other departments will receive a yellow warning level as the heat zone spreads north across the country. According to Météo-France, temperatures from the Centre-Val de Loire region to Nouvelle-Aquitaine will range from 38°C to 40°C. In the Île-de-France region, temperatures will approach 38°C.
On Wednesday evening, the sky will be mostly clear, creating favorable conditions for observing the first total solar eclipse visible in Europe since 1999. At the same time, even during the brief eclipse of the Sun by the Moon, temperatures are forecast to remain “very high in many regions, especially in the west, often between 30°C and 35°C, and along the English Channel coast between 25°C and 28°C,” according to the national meteorological service.
Third heatwave of the summer
“Again, we are living with closed windows, in the dark, and we can’t even air out the rooms at night because it’s so hot,” said Romain Vandepitteri, an entrepreneur from Bordeaux who works from home. The current heatwave is the third this summer, following an exceptionally intense period at the end of June and another that lasted from July 4 to 19, one of the longest in the country’s history. Another unusually early period of extreme heat occurred at the end of May.
Against the backdrop of global warming caused by human activity, such periods of extreme heat are becoming more frequent, intense, and covering an increasingly larger part of the year. Raphaël, a dietitian from Rennes, advises maintaining hydration, adequately salting food, and not neglecting fruits and vegetables. She also recommends eating cold dishes, “to avoid heating the body or home,” and taking a cool shower before bed.
Drought and water use restrictions
The drought in France has been steadily worsening since May due to high temperatures and lack of rain. According to Météo-France, as of August 6, the soil across the country remained record dry, and drought conditions had spread throughout the territory. The French Biodiversity Office reported that the state of small rivers and streams in the country is “the most critical in the history of observations for this time of year.”
On Tuesday, water use restrictions affected areas where 62 million people live — 94 percent of the population of mainland France. AFP made this calculation based on data from the monitoring service VigiEau. At the beginning of August, nearly two-thirds of the country’s underground aquifers, which are its main reserves of freshwater, were below normal levels.
Amid the crisis, the Ministry of Ecological Transition is convening the national water resources monitoring committee with regional prefectures on Wednesday. The agenda includes assessing the drought situation and its consequences for agriculture and biodiversity, as well as exchanging experiences on measures to enhance preparedness and resilience in areas facing water shortages.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu also tasked four deputies and three senators on Wednesday with developing new measures to combat forest fires, which are fueled by climate change and drought. These proposals are to be included in a future bill on modernizing France’s civil security system.
Source: RFI
