An unprecedented heat wave in France that has scorched the country, leading to raging wildfires, dragged on Monday with all-time high temperatures of nearly 108 degrees Fahrenheit recorded in some parts.
As AccuWeather reports, Météo-France, the country’s national weather agency, reported over a dozen record-smashing highs Monday, including a reading of 107.6 F (42 degrees Celsius) in the city of Nantes, which holds the country’s sixth-largest population. The record in Nantes had previously stood at 104.5 F (40.3 C) for over 70 years, set on July 12, 1949. Other all-time records broken included highs of 106.5 F (41.4 C) in La Roche-sur-Yon, 106.2 F (41.2 C) in Cholet and 106 F (41.1 C) in Saintes. Monday’s intense heat added to the severe weather threats that France has faced in recent days. According to AccuWeather, on Sunday, several other all-time highs were recorded in the country, including Lavaur and Revel with 39.6 C (103 F) readings.
To make matters worse, these record temperatures and excessive dryness left parts of southwestern France at the mercy of raging wildfires. A massive blaze continues to tear through the Gironde region, a popular tourist destination, and has laid at least 34,000 acres of land to waste since last Tuesday, according to the BBC. “It never stops,” firefighter David Brunner told The Guardian about taking on the Gironde fire. “In 30 years of firefighting, I have never seen a fire like this.” About 31,000 have been forced to flee their homes due to the uncontrollable fires, The Associated Press (AP) reported.
Météo-France has placed 15 departments in the western portion of the country on the highest state of alert for extreme temperatures through Tuesday. “In certain zones in the southwest, it will be an apocalypse of heat,” forecaster Francois Gourand of Météo-France told Agence France-Presse (AFP). Even outside of the southwest, the heat has been absolutely brutal across a large part of France. On Monday afternoon, Paris reached 100 F (38 C), the first triple-digit reading since early August 2020. The City of Light typically averages a high temperature of around 75 F (24 C) in the heart of summer.
This scorching heat wave has proven dangerous to the thousands of Europeans living without air conditioning or other ways to cool off. More than 1,000 people have already died in Spain and Portugal from heat-related causes, according to officials. Record highs were broken throughout Spain Sunday, including a 42.3 C (108 F) reading in Pamplona, a 40.6 C (105 F) high in Salamanca, and a temperature of 38.7 C (102 F) in Burgos.
And just like France, those countries are also dealing with raging wildfires. Horrifying video released from Zamora, Spain, shows a passenger train being halted while surrounded by wildfires raging right outside the windows. No injuries were reported as a result of the train traveling between Madrid and Ferrol. Elsewhere in Europe, first-responders in Greece raced to put out wildfires, namely in the Mediterranean island of Crete. The Guardian reports that Morocco, Croatia and Hungary have also been fighting fires within the past few days as a result of the heat wave.
By midweek, the worst of the heat will begin to ease across Western Europe, but temperatures will still remain above average for at least the rest of the week, according to AccuWeather meteorologists. It may take residents and infrastructure several days or even weeks to recover from the strain exerted by this historic heat wave.
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