HEAT WAVE AUGUST 2022. Five departments in the South of France were placed on orange alert for the heat wave on Monday 1 August.
[Mis à jour le 1er août 2022 à 09h38] A new wave of heat expected in France: this Monday, August 1, five departments in the South of France were placed on orange alert for the heat wave by Meteo France. These are La Drôme, Ardèche, Vaucluse, Pyrénées-Orientales and Gard. In a bulletin on Sunday, Météo France evokes a “new heat wave episode whose intensity and duration will be less than those of the previous episode.”
Ten other departments in the south-east of France have been placed on orange alert. The peak of heat is expected in France this Wednesday, with temperatures often greater than or equal to 35°C. Météo France predicts peaks of 39 or 40°C in the southwest. 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 will this new heat wave 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?
Towards a new heat wave in early August? Map and forecast for next week
While the temperatures have finally dropped, La Chaîne Météo announces a further rise in temperatures since this weekend in a large part of France. Only the north, the northwest and the Atlantic coast should be spared by this new wave of strong heat.
But this is only the beginning, the mercury will gradually climb to reach 35 degrees in the southeast with peaks at 40 degrees. Get ready to be very hot again from the middle of the week. A third heat wave is likely in the southeast.
What are the temperatures expected in the southeast in the coming days?
It is in the southeast that temperatures rose on Sunday. Expect to be hot. Here are the forecasts for Meteo France :
- Paris : the capital will also experience a new heat wave with a peak of 36°C expected on Wednesday, the hottest day of the week.
- Aix en Provence : this Monday, temperatures will rise to 36 degrees in the afternoon, just like Tuesday, August 2. Wednesday will also be a hot day with a thermometer displaying up to 35 degrees and gusts of wind at 40 km/h. 35°C are expected on Thursday, 36°C on Friday and Saturday and 35°C on Sunday.
- Albi : it will be (very) hot in Albi this week with 37 degrees this Monday, then 39°C on Wednesday and Thursday. Rain is expected on Friday with 36°C, then the thermometer will rise to 38°C on Saturday and 36°C on Sunday.
- Carpentras : the temperatures expected this week in Carpentras are also very hot with 38°C on Monday and Tuesday, 37°C on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 36°C on Sunday.
- Lyons: temperatures are rising in Lyon with 35°C expected on Monday, as on Tuesday. The rest of the week will be even hotter with 37°C on Wednesday and 39°C on Thursday. The thermometer goes down on Friday with 34°C and 33°C on Saturday and Sunday.
- Grenoble : plan to be hot also in Grenoble with 35°C expected on Monday and Tuesday, 37°C on Wednesday, 38°C on Thursday for the hottest day of the week, then 35°C on Friday, 34°C on Saturday and 33° C Sunday.
- Marseilles: after a hot weekend where the mercury will climb to 34 degrees, the city will benefit from a thaw thanks to the proximity of the sea. The maximum temperatures next week will be between 34 and 33 degrees.
- Toulouse: temperatures will gradually rise this week with 35°C on Monday, 36°C on Tuesday, 39°C on Wednesday for the hottest day of the week, then 38°C on Thursday, 34°C on Friday, 36°C on Saturday and 35°C sunday.
Heat wave 2022: after two heat waves (June and July), a very hot month of August in sight?
Does this hot weather from May with a first heat wave then the heat waves of mid-June and July predict a very hot summer of 2022 with heat waves? It’s off to a good start! 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 from August 1 to 7: a risk of a new heat wave which is confirmed for 3/4 of France. From Monday August 1, a rise in hot air between the Pyrenees and the Alps gradually sets in, causing temperatures to rise, with a peak expected on Thursday August 4. Temperatures around 35 degrees are expected with possible peaks at 40 degrees.
- Week of August 8 to 14: after high temperatures, the mercury will drop. A summer week is expected throughout France with sunshine and pleasant temperatures. If the temperatures could be a little lower, they will still remain above normal for the season.
- 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.
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