In its bulletin, Météo-France warns of a risk of «very high danger of fires in the Mediterranean zone (Occitanie, Provence and Corsica)», linked to the wind regime (mistral and tramontane) «fairly strong» and to «conditions remaining very hot and dry on an increasingly sensitive vegetation».
The mercury will reach 30 to 37 degrees on Sunday in the southeast, up to 34 to 35 degrees in Occitania, according to Météo-France. On the Channel coast, the maximum will be between 20 and 26 degrees.
Temperatures should continue to rise on Monday in the southeast, up to 39°.
“A new heat wave is setting up in France with temperatures that can exceed 35°C in a generalized manner from Monday south of a Bordeaux-Lyon line”, underlined Friday Météo-France, questioned by AFP .
“It can settle for several days in the south-eastern quarter of the country”, adds Météo-France, which specifies that there remains “uncertainty” after Wednesday.
A Météo-France map showing the trend in maximum temperatures between Monday and Wednesday indicates that the thermometer could climb to 36 and 39°C in the South-East towards the Rhône valley, between 36 and 39°C on Tuesday in the South-West, then between 36 and 38°C on Wednesday in the East in an area going from Alsace to the Lyon region.
In Paris, temperatures will reach 30 to 34°C. They will remain below 30°C towards Brittany and the Channel.
France has already experienced an early heat wave in June and is emerging from a second which lasted from July 12 to 25, with several fires, particularly in Gironde where nearly 21,000 hectares of forest were destroyed. The latter «is now the 45th heat wave recorded since 1947», «the third most intense, with a peak in the national thermal indicator at 28.0°C on July 18» and «the fifth longest», according to the Météo-France website.
These high temperatures are coupled with a historic drought in July.