France passes the peak of the heat wave, more than 40°C recorded in the South-West

A heat wave put France to the test on Saturday, with temperatures sometimes exceeding 40°C. A heat wave that is characterized by its intensity, but above all its precocity. Mééo-France noted saedi “peaks close to 42 ° / 43 ° C” in the south-west, with temperature records “all months combined”, such as in Biarritz (Basque Country) where the mercury reached 42.9 °C. France passed, on Saturday June 18, the peak of an intense heat wave episode and unprecedented precocity with temperatures sometimes above 40°C and many absolute heat records, particularly in the south-west and west. , where thunderstorms are expected in the evening. These occasional thunderstorms on the Atlantic coast are the “early signs of a rainy-stormy degradation” scheduled for Sunday and which will “gradually reduce” the heat wave, the strongest heat shifting towards the east, with in particular up to 38 degrees expected on the north-east, Sunday, according to Météo-France. The meteorological service noted on Saturday “peaks close to 42 ° / 43 ° C” in the south-west, with temperature records “all months combined”, as in Biarritz (42.9°C) in the Basque Country, Cap-Ferret (41.9°C) in the Bassin d’Arcachon or Biscarrosse in the Landes (41°C, 1968 record equaled). The symbolic bar 40°C has also been reached elsewhere in the West, such as in Deux-Sèvres (Niort), in Charente-Maritime (Rochefort), in Ile-et-Villaine (at La Noé-Blanche), in Maine- et-Loire (Angers) and Indre-et-Loire (Reignac). However, the mercury did not exceed 37°C in Paris. Nearly 45 million people are still affected by the red or orange levels of heat wave vigilance: eleven departments in red, from Pyrénées-Atlantiques to Vendée, and 59 in orange.According to Météo-France, the country has also experienced absolute records of “minimal” heat. With 23.5°C at its lowest on Saturday, it had never been so hot at night in Belle-Ile-en-Mer (Morbihan), erasing a record dating back 45 years.>> To read – Climate change responsible for increasingly early heat wavesPark taken by stormEven if it has led since Thursday to the cancellation of festive, sporting and cultural events, such as the pilgrimage of veterans planned for Lourdes on the occasion of the anniversary of the call of June 18, 1940, the heat did not prevent tens of thousands of people from continuing to celebrate at Hellfest, the great mass of metal, in Clisson (Loire-Atlantique). By 40°C, the few spaces shaded areas of the site were taken by storm in the afternoon, like the water points and the metal structures watering breathless but overexcited spectators who did not give up “pogoter” in the middle of the dodger, noted a AFP journalist. In Strasbourg, where the heat will continue on Sunday thanks to the move to the n north-east of the heat, between 10 and 15,000 people according to the police took part in the Visibility March. In some cities, museums welcomed visitors in search of fresh air. Bordeaux, where the mercury rose to 40.5°C according to Météo-France – a record for June – had also made them accessible free of charge. In Paris, where parks and gardens were to remain open at night, the Aquaboulevard water park has was stormed by hundreds of people who came to cool off in its multiple pools, according to videos posted on social networks. But many municipal swimming pools have remained closed due to a strike. On the Champs-Élysées, luxury shops have distributed umbrellas to tourists waiting outside to enter. >> To read – Health, work, agriculture. .. The effects of the heat waveAir pollutionThe heat, combined with the drought which was already affecting part of the country, favored the outbreak of fires, in particular of harvests, as in Deux-Sèvres, in red vigilance since Thursday, where 21 hectares burned on Saturday. In Aveyron (orange alert), firefighters continued to fight a fire that destroyed 140 hectares of vegetation in Comprégnac, with an unfavorable wind and on steep terrain. A hundred additional hectares could be threatened. Many regions are also experiencing high levels of ozone concentrations in the air due to the heat wave, particularly in Ile-de-France, Hauts-de-France, Normandy and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, according to Prev’Air. Differentiated traffic has been set up in the Paris region. High temperatures also promote the proliferation of cyanobacteria in bodies of water, resulting in bans on swimming, water activities and fishing. This heat wave arrived from the Maghreb by the Iberian Peninsula, where Spain is facing major fires, one of which has already ravaged 20,000 hectares of land in the northwest of the country. For scientists, the multiplication, intensification and lengthening of heat waves, aggravated by greenhouse gas emissions, are an unequivocal marker of global warming. With AFP