an unprecedented heat wave

It’s summer in the middle of May. 32°C in Bordeaux, fortunately there is the sea. In Limoges, on the other hand, with 31°C, we cool down as much as we can, like in Besançon where the glacier has resumed service before time. In Toulouse, we find our balance somehow. It is 33°C, but the bowlers are there: “You want to play, it’s stronger than the heat and we’re in the shade so it’s still pleasant”. 38 consecutive days above normal for the season, France broke its spring heat record. A problem for this strawberry producer, forced to throw away two-thirds of his fruits which ripen too quickly: “Today we have to pick every two days, because the strawberries go from the white-white-green stage to the red stage that can be sold one day”.

Spain too is facing an unusual heat wave for the season. It is 42°C in some southern cities and this month could be the hottest of the century in the country. “North Africa’s climate is shifting towards southern Europe. We will have longer and more intense drought periods in the middle of the century, and of course higher temperatures”, explains Ruben del Campo, spokesperson for the Spanish meteorological agency. With climate change, the exceptional could become the norm, warn scientists.