(Bordeaux) The thermometer is going crazy on Monday in the south of France due to a heat wave which is already affecting some Olympic sites and should rise on Tuesday towards the Paris region, where the majority of the events are taking place.
“Over a very large southern half of the country, the heat will clearly intensify,” and the 40 degree mark could be exceeded in certain regions, according to Météo-France.
“This day should be the hottest of the heatwave that began on Sunday” and should be “relatively short-lived, but particularly intense,” the meteorological institute added.
In the southwest, it was already 24.4 degrees at the Bordeaux-Mérignac station at 5 a.m., according to the meteorological institute.
Bordeaux is hosting matches in the women’s and men’s Olympic football tournaments, but no matches are scheduled for Monday.
In Marseille (southeast), which is hosting sailing events, Sunday had already been marked by intense heat, humidity and little cooling from an almost non-existent wind.
Spectators at the Olympic Marina were able to enjoy the beach in the reception area to cool off, but the athletes had to wait in the full sun for the wind to pick up.
PHOTO KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
“Over a very large southern half of the country, the heat will clearly intensify,” and the 40 degree mark could be exceeded in certain regions, according to Météo-France.
In Paris and its close suburbs, where most of the Olympic events are taking place, “35°C will be reached on Tuesday and the night from Tuesday to Wednesday will be very hot, with minimum temperatures around 22°C”, specifies Météo-France.
The Region announced on Monday the activation of the heatwave plan in Île-de-France, where “air quality will be poor” according to the Airparif observatory.
The regional plan includes the distribution of more than 2.5 million bottles of water on public transport and “nearly 200,000 hats, fans and water bottles” to Olympic spectators.
Most of the temporary stands are not shaded and some events organised on Tuesday afternoon will be particularly exposed to the heat (women’s rugby 7s semi-finals, field hockey qualifiers, beach volleyball and 3×3 basketball preliminary rounds, BMX freestyle qualifiers).
The Olympic village, which hosts more than 10,000 athletes, was designed without air conditioning, for ecological reasons, with buildings guaranteeing a difference of -6 degrees compared to the outside temperature, a geothermal cooling system and fans, but without reassuring all the teams.
The delegations have thus ordered nearly 2,500 air conditioners (out of a total of 7,000 rooms) to guarantee the sleeping comfort of their athletes, indicated the deputy director of the village, Augustin Tran Van Chau, at the beginning of July.
“Heat waves are an emblematic manifestation of our climate change, they are increasingly intense, frequent, early and long,” stressed Matthieu Sorel, climatologist, during a press briefing on Saturday by Météo-France on this first episode of the year in the country.