Bright sunshine, blue skies, heat… France is currently in what Régis Crépet, historical meteorologist for La Chaîne Météo, calls “a lasting period of good weather”. For Planet, the expert has agreed to come back to the rumors of a heat wave next week, from July 11 to 17, 2022. Is it really a heat wave, or just a heat wave? Which parts of the country will be hardest hit by rising mercury? Will the feeling be similar to the episode of early heat wave experienced last June? We disentangle the true from the false.
“This good weather and this heat are already well marked in the south of France (…) But on the scale of France, from next week, the good weather will be assured, and the temperatures will start to It is an anticyclonic weather that will permanently settle in western Europe of the country. And it is this anticyclonic weather that will last at least until July 14”, explains Régis Crépet.
“What makes the difference between a heat wave and a heat wave are the famous heat wave thresholds, we are talking about a heat which becomes really very very strong a priori for the south and especially in the south-east. We could switch to heat wave thresholds in the second part of next week, but it is difficult to say whether it will be as strong as in June or not”, explains the forecaster.
Is such a situation awaiting us next week? As Régis Crépet tells us, it is a “gradual rise in temperatures, which will start to become particularly hot again next week, first in the south of France and at the end of the week”. Before concluding: “There, the hot weather will also start to rise north of the Loire. Certainly, next week will be marked by a heat wave”.
Will the temperatures be similar to what we experienced during the early heat wave in mid-June?
To date, it is impossible to know if the heat peaks will be as high as what we experienced in June next week. It is also difficult to know in advance whether this possible heat wave will be generalized, or even lasting. “But yes, indeed, we are probably heading for a heatwave episode in a third of southern France, it would be generally from next Wednesday until the weekend”, continues Régis Crépet. “It takes very hot weather for three days and three nights to speak of a heat wave,” he recalls.
On the other hand, a heatwave episode in the north of the territory is not confirmed. “North of the Loire (…) it will be very nice and hot, for a long time, but we may not be above the thresholds of a heat wave, and that’s good!”, Notes the meteorologist. “It is not certain that we are necessarily as hot as during the peak of June 19 when we had peaks at 39, 40°C. On the other hand, we could enter this kind of configuration for the south of the Loire”, he specifies. What temperatures should you expect at home, exactly?
This heat wave should “rise crescendo”, with possibly very high temperatures. The 30°C threshold will undoubtedly be reached north of the Loire in the second half of next week. In summary, the forecaster announces “a heat wave for the regions located in the north”, and “heat wave thresholds possibly reached in the south”.
The essential point to remember: the duration of this episode of high heat. “Even after the weekend of July 15, which is already shaping up to be very hot across the country, the very hot weather could still last the week of July 18 to 24. This is really a long-term thing and it could still intensify a further notch, in the south in any case.
“The inhabitants of the south will experience a particularly difficult month of July”, explains Régis Crépet, recalling however that the reliability is rather low at this deadline. “These are projections to be taken with a grain of salt,” insists the specialist.
