Alexandra Jaegy, edited by Yanis Darras 8:15 p.m., October 28, 2022

It hovers like a summer air in France.

The thermometer continues to flirt with 30 degrees in some parts of the country.

In Clermont-Ferrand, restaurants are filling up, to the delight of their managers.

"I don't know if it's good for the planet, but for trade, it's pretty good", confides a restaurateur to Europe 1.

We will soon be November 1st.

And yet, looking out the window, it's hard to believe that winter is fast approaching.

In several regions of France, the thermometer still flirts with 30 degrees.

As a result of these exceptional temperatures, October 2022 should become the hottest month ever recorded in France, following this exceptional heat wave in terms of its duration and intensity.

The average temperature should be 3 to 4 degrees higher than usual, and around 17 degrees.

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"It's pretty good for business"

In Clermont-Ferrand, summer goes into extra time.

In the prefecture of Puy-de-Dôme, the t-shirts are out, while the thermometer displays 28 degrees.

A boon for traders.

"In the middle of October, the terrace is full. So there, we have 200 covers", welcomes a manager of a brewery in the city. 

"Usually, for the end of October, we will be more on 80, maximum 100 covers", he explains at the microphone of Europe 1. "And then, we no longer serve sauerkraut. There, we are rather on a summer salad, on a carpaccio tartare, in short, summer dishes."

"In the evening too, people consume a little more", notes the manager.

"I don't know if it's good for the planet, but for trade, it's pretty good," he quips.

The drought is getting worse

On the side of Météo France, on the other hand, this is not the time to celebrate.

The organization is sounding the alarm in the face of these weather conditions, which are aggravating the drought in the south of the country.

Thus, in Occitania, the soils had never been so dry at this time of year since 1958. Worse, throughout the territory, the rainfall deficit is 30%, and climbs to 70% between the Landes and the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. 

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