A heat “exceptional”. In its Serralongue station (Pyrénées-Orientales), Météo France has just recorded a temperature of 40.1°C at 700 meters above sea level. “This is an absolute record for this station opened in 1985″, specifies the weather institute, Tuesday 18 while its old record dates back to August 22, 2012 and stood at 37.0°C. This 40°C bar could be crossed in several places in France on Tuesday.
The world must prepare for more intense heat waves, the UN warned on Tuesday July 18. “These phenomena will continue to intensify”, said John Nairn, expert with the World Meteorological Organization, during a press briefing in Geneva (Switzerland). Temperatures that exceed 40°C in Italy, even approach 48°C in Sardinia, regions of Spain at 15°C above seasonal norms, records expected in the United States… The northern hemisphere is currently approaching a peak in heat waves. In Spain, several regions have been placed on red alert due to the “extreme danger” induced by the heat wave. Follow our live.
More than 40°C in Provence? The heat wave that is hitting the west of the Mediterranean basin will raise temperatures in the South and in Corsica. 40°C could be reached inland in Provence and on the Isle of Beauty, as well as in the Pyrénées-Orientales and “probably” in the Tarn and Isère, warns Météo France, which evokes a “non-exceptional heatwave episode, but the persistence of which requires particular vigilance”.
Seven departments on alert. Météo France has placed seven departments on orange alert due to the heat wave. These are Alpes-Maritimes, Haute-Corse, Corse-du-Sud, Var, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Vaucluse and Pyrénées-Orientales, as well as the principality of Andorra. The heat dome should shift towards the east on Wednesday and only a few departments in the South-East should remain affected by the high temperatures.
IN GREECE
Stronger global warming in Europe. Climate change, which makes these heat wave episodes more regular and intense, is twice as fast as the global average in Europe, experts note. And the Mediterranean countries suffer particularly. Since 2000, heat waves have been five times more frequent in France than before 1989 and they will be twice as numerous within 30 years.