Ardèche (07), Drôme (26), Gard (30), Pyrénées-Orientales (66) and Vaucluse (84) should go through a «new heat wave episode whose intensity and duration will be less than those of the previous episode» , said Météo-France in a bulletin on Sunday.

The ten other departments in the south-eastern quarter of France have been placed on yellow alert.

A few days after an exceptional heat wave that lasted two weeks, temperatures were again high on Sunday afternoon from Roussillon to Provence.

36 degrees were recorded in Marseille, Montpellier and Perpignan at 4:00 p.m., and 38 in Nîmes.

South of Nîmes, a fire destroyed 200 hectares of pine forest, causing a large plume of smoke which required the partial closure of the A9 motorway. Fueled by the Mistral and the Tramontana, whose gusts blow at 60 km / h on dry ground, the fire progressed from 2.5 to 3 kilometers per hour around 6 p.m.

«The heat is intensifying again,» warned Météo-France. During the night from Sunday to Monday, the temperature will not drop below 23 to 25 degrees on the coastal plains of Languedoc and it will also be very mild towards the lower Rhône valley, no less than 20 to 23 degrees.

The heat will be felt in the morning and in the afternoon of Monday in the south, with temperatures of 35 to 38 degrees in the departments placed in orange vigilance, and peaks at 39 degrees towards the Gard.

– Record July in PACA –

The episode of strong heat should «extend Tuesday and Wednesday over many regions», to the west and in the Rhône valley, forecasts Météo-France.

Across France, the heat peak is expected for Wednesday with maximums often greater than or equal to 35°C and peaks at 39 or 40 degrees in the southwest.

This peak should however be «brief in many departments», according to Steven Testelin, forecaster at Météo France, and cooler air could arrive Thursday from the northwest.

The Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur region experienced its hottest July since 1947, Météo-France reported. In France, July 2006 remained warmer.

Western Europe faced a heat wave in mid-July, the second in barely a month, during which devastating forest fires broke out as in Gironde or now in Greece.

To limit the risk of fire, access to all the forests of Vaucluse has been strictly prohibited since Saturday.

The Gard was placed on Saturday, for the first time this season, in «extreme danger» level for the risk of forest fire in the Gard Rhodanien area.

In the Bouches-du-Rhône, 11 of the 25 forests in the department were closed again on Sunday, after a complete closure for several days.