New heat dome over France affected by an interminable drought

The presence of a anticyclone over the Atlantic sets up a south-westerly flow over the country: from theair scorching is coming up once again from North Africa and remains trapped over France throughout the week. This dome of heat is at the origin of a new heat wave, after that of July and that of June. This rise of hot air concerns this Monday the Pyrenees Orientales, Gard, Vaucluse, Ardèche and Drôme, and will then extend tomorrow to the south-west.

This Monday and Tuesday, temperatures will locally reach 39°C in the Gard, and 36 to 38°C in the rest of the southern half. These high temperatures will spread from the southwest to the Loire this Wednesday and Thursday, the two hottest days of this episode, with more than 35°C and even locally 40°C in the southwest.

The peak of heat Southeast will occur between this Monday and Tuesday, but nationwide, Wednesday is expected to be the warmest day. Thursday and Friday, the scorching temperatures will reach the northeast, with possibly 38 to 40 ° C in the city of Strasbourg. If current forecasts are confirmed, this heatwave will end over the weekend, but once again temperatures will remain high (over 30°C) over much of the country.

A less intense and shorter heat wave in anticipation

This 3^e heat wave will be different from the two previous ones by its intensity and its duration : the temperatures will a priori be a little lower (40 °C and not 43°C as in June) and its shorter duration (5 days of heat wave against 15 in July). The June heat wave was exceptional due to its earliness and extreme temperatures. The july heat wave was also remarkable for its record temperatures, but especially for its duration in the southeast. The situation is currently different: France is affected by a south-westerly flow (and not due south as in July), which spares the north-west and Brittany from high temperatures in early August, unlike July.

Endless heat and dryness

The fact that France suffered a third heat wave is exceptional, but not completely unprecedented either: in 2017, the country had to face four heat waves between June and August. The novel side of this summer 2022 lies more in the duration of this heat and the drought that accompanies it: July 2022 is a priori the hottest and driest month of July ever recorded in France since the beginning of the records of Weather report France.

What is particularly striking is that there is no real break in the heat in the south: even when the heat wave alerts are over, the temperatures remain high, and this, since the beginning of June! The same scenario should repeat itself in August: after this 3^e heat wave, there is no reliable signal from 4^e heat wave in sight (to date) but the heat should still be maintained with 30 to 35 ° C in the south the first 15 days of the month.

Return of high heat in early August with a third wave

Article of Karine Durandpublished on July 30, 2022

After a lull of a few days, a new heat wave is looming for next week. It will be the third of the year and the 48^e since 1947! Towards a summer of all records in France.

The heat has settled in continuously in France and part of Europe since May and seems to no longer want to leave the region. This mid-week is marked by an appreciable break in temperatures, both in the north and in the south. The drop is less obvious in the southeast: the departments in this area are just 1 to 2°C below the heat wave thresholds for 2 to 3 days, and the feeling therefore remains very hot.

A heat wave every month since June

A new anticyclonic blockage, a priori lasting, will set in place this weekend and temperatures will start to rise again. They will reach 35 to 37°C around the Mediterranean, more than 30°C in the southwest, and 26 to 30°C in the north. Meteo France specifies that a signal for a new heat wave seems to appear from the beginning of next week: it is still too early to be precise concerning the intensity of the heat and its duration, but temperatures again outside the norm are already envisaged for the South-East. If the event is confirmed, it would therefore be a third heat wave (or even a heat wave) in three months: after that of june, July’sthe month of August could also be marked by a period of exceptional heat, a rare and exceptional situation since the beginning of the weather records.