Weather: these heat records broken in the south-west of the France

Europe 1 with AFP 18:36 p.m., March 29, 2023

Several heat records were broken on Wednesday in southwestern France, with temperatures locally 10 to 12 degrees higher than normal for the season, Météo France announced. This mild summer at the very beginning of spring, which also affected a large part of the territory to lesser degrees, should however be only ephemeral, a colder front being expected as early as the weekend on the France.

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A very rare threshold in March

Wednesday afternoon, the bar of 30 degrees was crossed in Dax in the Landes and Orthez in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, with 30.1 degrees. "This is the first time we have reached this threshold on the metropolitan territory this year," Patrick Gallois told AFP. This threshold of 30 degrees is very rare in metropolitan France in March. It has so far only been exceeded twice: in Pau on 25 March 1955 (record 31°C) and in Figari on 24 March 2001 (record 30.3°C). The previous temperature record in March in Dax was set on March 21, 1990, with 29.9 degrees. That of Orthez dated March 31, 2021 (29 ° C).

Other cities also broke their monthly records, such as Mont-de-Marsan in the Landes (29.9 ° C against 29.2), Clarac in Haute-Garonne (27.5 against 26.5) Villefranche-de-Rouergue in Aveyron (26.2 against 26) or Belves in Dordogne (26.6 against 26.3). On the rest of the country, temperatures were locally 6 to 8 degrees higher than normal in several places, such as Clermont-Ferrand with 25 degrees, Nevers with 23 degrees or Paris with 21 degrees, 10 more than Tuesday.

High temperatures that won't last

The phenomenon had begun in the early hours of the day in Biarritz, which recorded its mildest night, with an average of 18.9 degrees, beating its monthly record set on March 4, 1998, when the thermometer had reached 18.2 ° C. This mildness is due to an Atlantic depression which, slowed down by an anticyclone in place on the France, brought up a very mild air mass over the country, in southern currents. It is also fueled by a foehn effect - sudden warming of an air mass after crossing a mountain range - at the foot of the western Pyrenees.

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However, it will not last, warns Météo France. On Thursday, high pressure will gradually clear eastward and degradation is expected for the weekend, with the passage in westerly flow that will lead to showers on Friday. "Temperatures will begin to drop sharply, to return to seasonal averages on Friday, and this weekend we will even go below normal for the beginning of April," said Patrick Gallois.