There have already been many heat waves during this summer of 2022. A map of the city of Paris during one of these days shows the urgency of greening the city.
On June 18, 2022, the weather forecast announced temperatures of 40° in Paris, from never seen at this time of year according to the presenter. This scorching episode, which corresponded to a so-called “heat plume” phenomenon, had started unusually early in the year: it had never been so hot in France so early. This heat wave perfectly underlined the urgency of the fight against global warming.
This is not all that these exceptional temperatures show us. A new map, published on August 3 and whose data dates from this day of June 18, shows Paris suffering from the heat – but it above all illustrates the need for cities to adapt to survive the next heat waves.
Paris and the big cities must become green
The card, which was posted on Twitter by the town hall of the 15th arrondissement of Paris, comes from a photo taken by the ISS and provided by the European Space Agency. She ” highlights the hottest areas of the capital “, as the Twitter account explains. In red, the areas where the ground temperature was the warmest, and in green, the coldest. Most noteworthy are the maximum temperatures shown in the photo caption, bottom right: the hottest areas recorded ground temperatures of 48°. An outrageous number.
The map shows above all that the only places not to be completely scarlet red in the capital were the banks of the Seine, and the parks and forests. Vegetated places are always the coolest during periods of heat wave, because the plants help to fight against the phenomena ” urban heat islands “. This is because natural soils, which are vegetated, naturally contain moisture and water from plants. The latter therefore make it possible to fight against the heat in these places.
As the map perfectly illustrates, it is therefore more urgent than ever to launch greening plans in major cities. This involves creating gardens and green space, planting trees in the streets where possible, but also limiting cars in public spaces.