The heat has settled in France for several days, with unusual temperatures for a back-to-school week and which could reach up to 37°C on Thursday, Météo-France reported on Wednesday September 6, 2023.
At 4 p.m., the mercury was 29 ° C in Brest, 34 ° C in Paris, Tours, Clermont-Ferrand and Nantes, 32 ° C in Toulouse and Bordeaux, indicates the meteorological service. The trend will be similar on Thursday, with maximums between “between 23 and 28 degrees on the Channel coast, 29 to 34 degrees on the rest of the country, even 35 to 37 degrees from Poitou to the Center”, specifies Météo-France.
Forty-four departments will be placed on heat wave yellow vigilance and three on storm yellow vigilance, in an area between Seine-Maritime, Jura, Tarn-et-Garonne and Gironde, according to the 4 p.m. Météo-France bulletin. . The departments in storm vigilance are Finistère, Morbihan and Côtes d’Armor.
Several temperature records were also recorded this Wednesday, September 6, 2023 in cities in France, reveals Météo France.
31.3°C in Saint-Brieuc (previous record 30.4°C on 07/09/2016), 20.5°C in Angers (previous record 20.2°C on 04/09/2006), 31, 6°C in Annecy (previous record 30.9°C on 09/14/2020) or 34.6°C in Chartres (previous record 34.3°C on 09/14/2020).
A peak in ozone pollution, often resulting from the combination of road traffic, high heat and lack of wind, was expected in Ile-de-France on Wednesday and Thursday.
Also read; MAP. Weather: what is the heat record for the month of September near you?
In southern Brittany, western Pays de la Loire and as far as Cotentin, high clouds are circulating and this could create thunderstorms overnight.
A so-called “omega” situation
This episode of high temperatures should persist for a good part of the week in the country due to a so-called “omega” blocking situation: i.e. an anticyclone over Eastern Europe associated with a depression off Portugal brings up hot air of Saharan origin.
Still according to Météo France, global warming is not a direct cause of this omega situation but “plays an amplifying role making the heat more intense, more lasting, and promotes the extension of such episodes beyond the summertime “.
It is in Spain and Greece that this situation causes the greatest damage. In Greece, the episode generated torrential rains. The country has indeed been hit by “rains of 600 to 800 mm in 24 hours in Magnesia”, in central Greece, “an unprecedented phenomenon” in recent decades, meteorologist Dimitris Ziakopoulos said on Wednesday.
IN IMAGES, IN PICTURES. Greece and Turkey hit by deadly floods
“It seems that the mountainous region of Magnesia was affected by 600 to 800 mm of rain in 24 hours”, “an unprecedented phenomenon in the meteorological data of the country”, measured since 1955, indicated this expert, vice-president of the center Crisis Management Studies of the Climate Crisis Ministry, during a press conference in Athens.
Two people have been found dead in the past two days in Magnesia and at least four are missing in this region, located some 330 km north of Athens.
The hottest summer of 2023 on record
The summer of 2023 is the hottest on record globally. The June-July-August season of 2023 was by far the hottest on record globally, with an average temperature of 16.77°C, 0.66°C above average, reports the European agency Copernicus on Tuesday.
The average European temperature for the summer was 19.63°C, 0.83°C above average, making it the fifth hottest temperature for the summer season.
Marine heatwaves were observed around Ireland and the UK in June, and across the Mediterranean in July and August.
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