Temperatures will remain very high on Monday August 21 with heat that will intensify further over the southern half to the center of the country, with 50 departments in orange vigilance, according to Météo France forecasts. In Occitania, around the Rhône valley, on the shores of the PACA region and Corsica, nighttime temperatures will not drop below 17 to 22 degrees in general and will sometimes remain between 22 and 26 degrees.
At the hottest hours, expect 28 to 32 degrees from Pays de Loire to Ile-de-France, eastern Hauts-de-France, Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine. Elsewhere, temperatures will soar, between 33 and 37 degrees, up to 37 to 40 degrees in Occitania and from Rhône-Alpes to Provence and Var. It will be locally 41°C in the shade, especially between Drôme, Ardèche, northern Gard and Vaucluse.
Brittany and the departments bordering the Channel, on the other hand, will benefit from a relatively cool atmosphere. Temperatures will be between 13 and 16 degrees in the morning and will reach 23 to 27 in the afternoon, locally 20 to 22 on the coast. On the sky side, greyness and morning mists will give way to long sunny periods.
“A lasting and intense heat wave for the period has settled over the country”, summarizes Météo-France, noting that “maximum temperatures of 35 to 39 degrees” were observed in the departments in orange vigilance, “until at 41 degrees peak. “In the South-East, we recorded up to 41.3°C in Cadenet (Vaucluse)”, underlines the public establishment. “The heat wave peak is expected between Tuesday and Wednesday,” he predicts.
“Some absolute records are likely to be broken, especially on Tuesday towards the Rhône Valley, with 40 to 42 degrees expected”, warns Météo-France, qualifying this “intense and lasting heatwave episode” as “particularly late for the season”.
In the Hautes-Alpes, in Chanousse, 260 firefighters are mobilized against a fire, according to Association prevention and reporting of forest fires. The risk of fires starting is exacerbated by extreme temperatures.
