Since the memorable summer of 1976, France has been experiencing increasingly frequent, intense, or early heat waves, like the current episode which should last until the weekend.
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The multiplication, intensification and lengthening of heat waves are an unequivocal marker of global warming, according to scientists.
A heat wave is defined as a period of “very hot weather day and night for at least three consecutive days”according to the government.
Reminder of the main heat waves in France since 1976:
1976: the furnace
From late June to mid-July 1976, heat records were broken. You have to go back to 1921 to find similar weather conditions.
The prolonged lack of rain is disastrous for agriculture. Compensation for drought victims is financed by an exceptional increase in income tax.
This heat wave causes the death of around 4,500 peopleaccording to an estimate of Public health France published in April 2019.
1983: intense heat
A wave of intense heat fell on France between July 9 and July 31, 1983. Peaks were recorded on July 11, as in Cognac (36º) and Carcassonne (35º). In Paris, it is 33º. The death toll from this heat wave is estimated at 2,900 (Public HealthFrance).
2003: a deadly summer
At the beginning of August 2003, the heat records fell. In Toulouse, Bordeaux, Limoges or Montauban, the mercury exceeded 40º on August 4.
It is the hottest summer since the establishment of an observation network in France and deadliest with 15,200 dead (Public HealthFrance).
The heat wave highlights dysfunctions in health services and the isolation of the elderly, the main victims of the heat.
Emergency physician Patrick Pelloux denounces the management of the episode in hospitals. The Director General of Health, Lucien Abenhaïm, resigns on August 18.
Criticized for not having taken the measure of the crisis, the Minister of Health Jean-François Mattei was replaced in March 2004 by Philippe Douste-Blazy who was developing a “heat wave plan”.
2006: heat in July
A heat wave hits the whole of France from July 10 to 28: the lower Rhone Valley is the most affected, the sea reaches 30º in Marseille. This heat stroke causes the death of more than 1,000 people (Public HealthFrance).
2015, 2016, 2017: early or late heat
Since 2015, every summer has been marked by “substantial heat waves” resulting in several thousand “excess deaths”, according to Public HealthFrance. In 2015, four heat waves caused an estimated total of 1,700 dead.
In 2015 and 2017, the heat waves are remarkable for their precocity, at the end of June and the beginning of July, while 2016 is distinguished by the late nature of the peak at the end of August.
2018: 1,500 deaths
France experiences a heat wave from July 24 to August 8. The summer of 2018 ranks as the second hottest in the country’s history, behind 2003, according to Météo-France. This heatwave causes around 1,500 deaths (Ministry of Health figure).
2019: absolute record
The summer of 2019 is marked by two heat waves. The first, particularly early, starts on June 24 and sets a new absolute heat record for France: 46ºC recorded on June 28 in Vérargues in the Hérault.
Local records also fell at the end of July, during a second wave. In Paris, a temperature of 42.6ºC was recorded on July 25, which broke the old Parisian record of 40.4ºC recorded in 1947.
2020: in the top 5
In August 2020, a week of heat wave concentrated in a wide northeast quadrant did not break any records but ranked among the five most intense heat episodes ever recorded in the country.
