A localized depression between the Azores and Madeira gradually brings very hot air from the Maghreb to Western Europe. The Iberian Peninsula is already affected, with temperatures of more than 40°C expected, especially in Spain.
This hot air will arrive in France on Tuesday from the South-West where temperatures could reach 35-36°C, before spreading over the entire southern half on Wednesday, then towards the North.
For the southern half, “the big heat peak will be Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with 35 to 38°C”, or even 40°C locally, Frédéric Nathan, forecaster at Météo-France, told AFP on Monday.
If this episode could be shorter in the northern half, the mercury will also climb, around 35°C on Friday in Rennes (west) or in Paris. And it will be hot everywhere on Saturday, with temperatures generally between 34 and 38°C.
The country has already experienced exceptional temperatures during the month of June. Thus, the absolute record for metropolitan France dates from June 2019, with 46°C in Vérargues (south-east), but it was at the very end of the month (June 28).
This heat wave would be “a priori, on a national scale, the earliest since the start of the measurements”, indicated the forecaster to AFP. The previous one dates from 2017, from June 18 to 22.
Heat waves and heat waves are the clearest signs of global warming caused by human activities.
“We are living a foretaste of our climate future,” summed up climatologist Christophe Cassou on Twitter.
