ANALYSIS
The heatwave continues to spread. Five additional departments were placed on Sunday in orange heat wave vigilance. In total, 54 departments are on orange alert and 15 in red. A scorching episode of nearly a week which, if it is not as extensive as that of 2003, remains "among the longest", says Robert Vautard, meteorologist and climatologist, guest of Europe 1.
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Get used to or even prepare for worse
“Unfortunately, we'll have to get used to it,” says the climatologist, director of the Pierre Simon Laplace Institute, specializing in climate science. "The climate for the next ten years is already mapped out with greenhouse gas emissions already emitted and which will not start again within twenty years," he explains, repeating that it will therefore be necessary to get used to such heat, or even "to prepare for even stronger heat waves".
Indeed, adds Robert Vautard, "it is estimated that if, today, the exceedance of 40 ° C returns year after year, in the middle of the century we must expect that they will be reached every year, even exceeded ".
Extremely stagnant air masses arriving in Paris (39 ° C) this afternoon. The air has moved about 1000km in 5 days, so less than 10 km / h over 5 days !! Here are possible backtrajectories calculated by the HySplit model. This explains heat built up over hot and dry surfaces pic.twitter.com/AykZCHXD7s
- Robert Vautard (@RobertVautard) August 9, 2020No more north / south distinction, the heat wave affects everyone
Furthermore, the north / south, plain / mountain distinction no longer seems to exist. Today, everyone is affected by the heatwave. "It's a large-scale phenomenon", agrees the meteorologist. The heat wave that France is currently experiencing has indeed for origin "masses of air coming from everywhere, particularly from the east", explains Robert Vautard. "We realize that they have only traveled 1,000 kilometers in five days, so they have had time to accumulate, to be distributed throughout the territory (even the continent, Western Europe and especially the Benelux being affected, Editor's note) ". A distribution that takes place without distinction.