PARIS (Reuters) – France will experience an “extreme heat peak” on its western facade on Monday and temperature records should be broken in many regions, Météo France warned on Monday.
Fifteen departments on the Atlantic coast, from Brittany to New Aquitaine and Occitanie, are still on “heat wave red vigilance” and should be confronted with temperatures reaching or even exceeding 40oC on Monday.
“The heat is increasing,” said Météo France during a situation update at 4:05 p.m., with 69 departments now placed in orange vigilance against 51 in the morning.
“This Monday marks the culmination of this heatwave episode on the western side of the country with an extreme peak of heat: 40 degrees will often be reached or exceeded in the departments on red alert.”
Météo France indicates that it noted in the middle of the afternoon “many absolute records, equaled or even beaten”, with in particular 42.6 degrees in Biscarosse or 40.7 degrees in Angers.
“It should be noted that at this time of the readings, the maximum temperatures have not yet been reached.”
In Gironde, a department in heat wave red vigilance and confronted for almost a week with two fires having burned more than 15,000 hectares of forest, the situation remains difficult.
“Despite the significant land and air resources engaged, the situation is not fixed and the fire progressed overnight,” said the prefecture in a situation update published Monday morning.
The situation, deemed “very complicated” by the prefect of Gironde, Fabienne Buccio, forced the authorities to carry out preventive evacuations.
According to the prefect, some 16,000 people were evacuated on Monday alone.
Nearly 1,700 firefighters from all over France, supported by six Canadair and three Dash planes are still mobilized to fight against these two “exceptional” fires, recalled the prefecture.
The heat wave currently raging in Europe is not sparing neighboring countries, and Great Britain is also expected to experience an unprecedented heat peak on Monday, with temperatures expected above 40oC for the first time.
In the Iberian Peninsula, the Spanish meteorological agency Aemet has placed the provinces of the Basque Country on heat wave red alert, while a large part of the country is on orange alert on Monday.
(Written by Myriam Rivet and Matthieu Protard, edited by Kate Entringer and Camille Raynaud)