Some announced the hottest day ever recorded in France. So we wanted to check where in the city the mercury was panicking the most…
In the department, this peak of intense heat was expected in the afternoon, with maximum temperatures reaching 37 to 40 ° C, according to forecasts by Météo France.
The coolest temperature
At 3 p.m., the sun is shining without a cloud on this Monday afternoon, and the air is stifling. A light wind brings a little breathing in this furnace. At the level of the park on the banks of the Eure, Monique and Pascal, a couple from Chartrains, stretch their legs along the landscaped walks… And they are right.
It is here, in fact, in the shade of the trees and near the water, that the temperature has remained the least hot, this Monday, with 35.7°C posted around 3:20 p.m.
Fifteen departments on red alert in the heat wave, the heat is gaining ground to the east
A little higher up, at the level of the Sakuraï gardens, you can already feel that it is heating up a little more: on the thermometer, one degree more, still in the shade, with 36.8°C.
Direction, now, the city center of Chartres
There, too, we seek shade, where we stay at home. On the facade of the Hôtel-de-Ville pharmacy, the green luminous cross displays 42°C… But it is in the sun.
Place des Halles, a few people occupy benches in the shade, but passers-by do not venture out into the sun for long. It is here that we are close to 39°C (38.8°C) at 4 p.m. No wonder, for Yannick Secula, forecaster at Météo France in Tours: “In town, there are islands of heat which accumulate and which have less time to dissipate”.
How to avoid heat stroke, this overheating of the body that can be fatal
A few steps away, few people, in the middle of July, on the cafe terraces to cool off. The mercury has dropped a bit, but it still displays 38.2°C on Place du Cygne. The wind brings a little air. Ditto in front of the cathedral, where the wind also blows in the shade. We thought the thermometer was going to break the day’s record, but no. It displays 35.8°C, with always this wind which gives a little breathing. A few people cool off inside the thousand-year-old building, cooler than an air-conditioned office: there is a 25.2°C, very appreciable!
A record?
For its part, Météo France recorded, this Monday, 38.2°C at the Champhol station. A very hot day, therefore, but the record is – fortunately – not broken in Chartres: “It’s still July 25, 2019, with 41.7°C recorded in the city”, says Yannick Secula, weather forecaster France, while specifying that the summer is still far from over…
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