nearly 80% of French people will experience more than 15 abnormally hot days per summer in the years to come, according to INSEE

Global warming will disrupt French summers in the coming years. A large part of the territory, today comprising nearly 80% of the population, will experience 16 to 29 abnormally hot days in summer over the next thirty years, INSEE figures in a study published Tuesday, August 30. This same population was, during the years 1976-2005, exposed to less than 16 abnormally hot days.

The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Occitanie regions will be the most exposed, anticipates INSEE, based in particular on the data made available by Météo France. Currently, 9.3 million people, i.e. one in seven French people, live in those territories where daytime heat anomalies will be the most frequent, that is to say more than 20 days per summer. The rest of the country is far from being spared, since two thirds of the population of France (65%) reside in the territories where there will be 16 to 20 abnormally hot days.

On the coasts, heat anomalies will be more frequent, but to a lesser extent. “Lhe number of abnormally hot days will increase from an average of 7 before 2005 to 12 over the next three decades”detail the authors of the study.

Nighttime temperatures will also be more often abnormal, warns INSEE. Some territories will experience up to 19 particularly hot nights. In comparison, the maximum was seven over the period 1976-2005. “Whatever the climate scenario considered, the trends for the next thirty years are almost equivalent”, precise again the statistical institute.

These high temperatures weaken the health of the most vulnerable people, especially the oldest, who will suffer more from the effects of global warming because of their distribution on the territory. Finally, the territories most exposed to abnormal heat are home to nearly 1.2 million people living below the poverty line and sometimes residing in often poorly insulated housing, warns the statistical institute.


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