The mercury is not going down, quite the contrary.

This Wednesday, the heat wave regains ground in the Southwest with maximum temperatures expected up to 40 degrees locally.

However, it should end on Sunday with thunderstorms expected throughout France.

In total, 18 departments are placed in heat wave orange vigilance (“Be very vigilant”), from Loire-Atlantique to Hautes-Pyrénées, as well as Gard and Vaucluse.

“The 3rd heatwave episode of summer 2022, which began on July 31 at the national level, and has mainly concerned the Mediterranean regions in recent days, extends from this mid-week on the South-West going up the along the Atlantic seaboard,” Météo-France warned in a bulletin on Tuesday evening.

Maximum temperatures will reach “34 to 37°C from Pays-de-Loire to Poitou-Charentes, and 36 to 38°C generally in the South-West with locally peaks at 39 or 40°C”.

Seasonal normals next week

“This heat wave will continue on Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the South and a large western part of the country, gradually spreading to the North-West and to the North,” said Christine Lac, duty manager for the forecast. at Meteo-France.

The stormy deterioration across the country on Sunday should make it possible "to return next week to significantly lower temperatures which should be closer to seasonal normals".

In addition, "this heat wave episode has a lower intensity than those of last June and July, but a longer duration on the scale of the territory", added Météo-France.

France has already experienced two heat waves, in June and July, when almost all of France was on heat wave alert.

France hit by drought

These high temperatures have led to a major drought and caused the flow of rivers to drop in many regions, increasing the number of water restriction measures, worrying the agricultural world, particularly for the cultivation of corn, the production of which is already expected to be very high. affected by climatic hazards.

93 departments in mainland France out of 96 are currently subject to water use restrictions to varying degrees.

Since Tuesday, 22 departments have been on "enhanced alert", which imposes sharp reductions in watering and withdrawals for agriculture, even bans on certain withdrawals, and 68 are "in crisis", where even water withdrawals for agriculture are prohibited.

And in more than a hundred small towns in France, the pipes are empty and must be supplied with drinking water by trucks.

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