Saharan Inferno: France Braces for 40°C Heatwave as Tropical Storm Fuels Record Temperatures

Suffocating heat is invading France at the beginning of this August. In about ten departments, over 40 degrees are expected at the beginning of the week, particularly in the southwest (and even 41°C locally as early as Sunday). This is the second heat wave recorded in the Hexagon this summer, recalls Actu.

"It is certain that there will be an episode of very intense heatwave on the southern half, which will last at least a week," warns the analysis of Guillaume Séchet, meteorologist and founder of météo-villes.com. At the origin of this heat wave, a former tropical storm, named Dexter.

"When it will approach the Hexagon - without touching it - that’s when very hot air from the Sahara could rise up to the northern regions of France," explains the meteorologist. According to Thibault Courouge, a forecaster at Météo France, this storm is the source of a "heat pump" effect that should last three or four days.

"It is a displacement of a mass of hot air towards our territory," he explains. In this case, this heat wave, caused by a depression, comes from Morocco and Spain.