AUGUST 2022 HEAT WEATHER. Barely out of the third heat wave, France is about to experience high temperatures for the fourth time. The forecasts.
[Mis à jour le 05 août 2022 à 11h03] Barely time to breathe with lower temperatures: France should experience a fourth heat wave next week. The mercury is expected to rise to 37°C in Bordeaux on Tuesday and 36°C in Poitiers on Wednesday.
This Friday, part of France, especially the East, is still hit by high temperatures. 11 departments are still on heat wave orange vigilance this Friday August 5 and 42 in yellow. The peak of this new heat wave, the fourth in two months therefore, is expected in the middle of next week and the risk of a heat wave is very present.
As a reminder, we speak of a heat wave when these four characteristics are combined:
- A period of high heat;
- With temperatures 5 degrees higher than normal for the season;
- The day and the night ;
- For 3 consecutive days.
When is this new heat wave expected? How long will it last? Where ? What are the forecasters predicting for the days and weeks to come? What are the steps to take to protect yourself from the heat and cool your home?
What are the temperatures expected in France in the coming days?
This beginning of August 2022 will have been marked by strong heat, with a fourth heat wave to be feared around August 10. Here are the forecasts for Meteo France :
- Paris : the weekend promises to be less hot than the week with temperatures of up to 29 degrees. Next week, Météo France predicts mercury of up to 33 degrees on Wednesday and Thursday.
- Aix en Provence : It will be hot this weekend with temperatures up to 37 degrees. Next week will be marked, always, by the heat with a mercury going up to 34 degrees.
- Albi : according to Météo France, the temperatures of the weekend will go up to 35 degrees and 38 degrees next week.
- Carpentras : the heat also in Carpentras with 35 degrees expected on Saturday and Sunday, then up to 37 degrees next week.
- Lyons : up to 32 degrees expected this weekend in Lyon, then up to 35 degrees next week, according to Météo France.
- Grenoble : 32 degrees are expected this weekend in Grenoble, before a week when the mercury can climb to 35 degrees.
- Marseilles: the weekend will be hot in Marseille with temperatures expected up to 36 degrees. Next week, the mercury may climb to 31 degrees.
- Toulouse: in Toulouse the mercury will reach 34 degrees this weekend, then up to 36 degrees next week.
Heat wave 2022: after two heat waves (June and July), a very hot month of August in sight?
France is going through a third heat wave in less than two months, and probably a fourth in the second week of the month! The beginning of August promises to be scorching, especially in the south-east of the country. Here’s what forecasters predict The Weather Channel until mid-August:
- Week of August 8 to 14: the respite will have been short-lived after the third heat wave episode, since the specialists announce a fourth heat wave in this second week of August with up to 37°C in Bordeaux on Tuesday and 36°C in Poitiers on Wednesday.
- Week of August 15 to 21: The south could experience more unstable weather. The north should continue to benefit from high pressure conditions and sunshine.
- Week of August 22 to 28: according to the trends observed by Météo France, temperatures in August should remain well above normal for the season.
What are the recommendations to follow during the heat wave?
Heat wave, heat peak, heat wave and heat dome: what are the differences?
Heat wave and heat wave are two different things. To speak of a heat wave, the temperatures must be 5 degrees higher than normal for the season, day and night, and this for at least 3 days and 3 nights. The heat wave temperature threshold therefore differs according to the departments and regions. Heat waves most often occur in France in July and August. We must be vigilant from the month of June. High temperatures, even above seasonal norms, do not necessarily mean a heat wave. Most often, these are heat waves.
The term heat peak is more to be used during a sudden rise in temperature, whereas a heat wave corresponds to a longer episode. Météo France judges that a heat wave is in progress when temperatures above the monthly average are detected by more than three degrees Celsius, for at least three days.
Last term often mentioned these days when talking about these scorching temperatures, that of a heat dome. A heat dome settled over almost the entire country this May 2022. This meteorological phenomenon is explained by a large mass of hot air from Morocco and Spain, trapped by atmospheric pressure. This usually occurs in summer, but also in spring. This results in scorching heat.
You should know that Météo-France provides several levels of heat wave vigilance: level 1 (green) corresponds to a “seasonal watch”, level 2 (yellow) to a “heat warning” and it is level 3 (orange) which corresponds to the “heat wave alert”. Finally level 4 (red), the highest, determines “maximum mobilization”. In summer, it is not uncommon for several departments to be placed on orange or red alert for the heat wave.
Heat wave: what are the temperature records recorded in recent years?
If the heat wave of the summer of 2003 remains in everyone’s memory (and that of 1976 also among the old), France has since experienced other episodes of very hot weather. The summer of 2019 had broken several records with absolute temperature records reached in several cities. According to data from Météo-France, 50 cities had thus recorded a new record since July 25, 2019. While the summer of 2019 had been very hot, some records were broken during this heat wave in mid-June 2022.
A look back at the first heat wave of summer 2022 and the heat wave day of Saturday June 18, 2022: 150 municipalities broke a heat record according to meteorologist Patrick Marlière, interviewed by BFM TV: “We went from 70 cities with monthly records beaten, more than 150 today in France, from the Pyrenees to the Belgian border”. The city of Nantes thus broke its record for the month of June with 39.1°C. In the South-West, records at more than 40 degrees have been reached: Biarritz with 42.9°, Saint-Jean-de-Luz with 42° or Bordeaux with 40°.
The July 2022 heat wave also set temperature records on Monday, July 18. Among the 63 records recorded that day, the majority are in the north, west or southwest. We can cite :
- Beaulieu-sur-Layon (49): 42.7°C
- Biscarrosse (40): 42.6°C
- Nantes (44): 42°C
- La Roche-sur-Yon (85): 41.5°C
- Cholet (49): 41.3°C
- Niort (79): 41°C
- Rennes (35): 40.5°C
- Caen (14): 40.1°C
- Dinard (35): 40°C
- Saint-Brieuc (22): 39.7°C
- Noirmoutier (85): 38.7°C
- Lorient (56): 37.6°C
- Brest (29): 39.3
- The island of Yeu (85): 35.9°C