France recorded its hottest September day ever, weather authorities said Monday. On Tuesday, the maximum is expected to be homogeneous with 30 to 34°C over almost the whole country.
Summer may be technically over but that hasn't stopped France from experiencing an unusually late heatwave, with an unprecedented 39°C in the center-west recorded on Monday and peaks of 35 or 36°C still expected on Tuesday in the center and southwest of the country.
"The national thermal indicator reached 25.1° Celsius on Monday, making 4 September, 2023 the hottest day ever recorded in September, ahead of 4 September, 1949 (24.7°C)," Météo- France weather bureau told French news agency AFP.
According to the latest data, it is 7°C warmer compared to the average temperature measured on 4 September between 1971 and 2000.
This difference goes up to 11.2°C in Nevers (Nièvre) and 10°C in Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme).
This indicator is made up of an average of daytime and nighttime temperatures at a set of stations representative of metropolitan France.
Brittany breaks the record
At the tip of Brittany in the west, Brest had its hottest day of the whole year 2023, with 30.6° C, which broke previous records.
It was 31.5°C on Monday in Paris, the third successive day over 30°C, and the rest of the week should be just as hot with 34°C expected on Tuesday afternoon, the hottest day of the week in the capital.
Temperature records, for a month of September, were also reported on Monday in Poitiers in France's centre-west, with 37° C, Aix-en-Provence in the south-east with 35.1 ° C, and Bourges in the centre with 36 °C, according to provisional data.
Montmorillon, a small town in the department of Vienne (center-west) measured 38.8° C on Monday, beating its previous record which dated from only last year.
Blanket of heat
On Tuesday, the maximum temperatures will be uniform with 30 to 34°C across almost the entire country.
This remarkable warmth for what is technically considered autumn (which begins in September) is consistent with climatologists' observations that human-caused climate change increases not only the severity of heatwaves but also their earlier or later onset.
The temperatures are unlikely to drop before Sunday, weather forecaster Frédéric Nathan said.
"We have hot air being sucked in from the Maghreb which has gradually returned to the country, with high pressures having set in and a blocking situation which will last all week," he explained.
Météo- France said about forty departments remain on heatwave "yellow" warning, especially in the center and west of France.
(with newswires)
