A woman sits in the shade of a tree to protect herself from the sun during a heatwave in Lyon on August 15, 2023. Photo by JEFF PACHOUD / AFP
The heat wave that’s baking continental Europe is spreading further as citizens in southeast France were told to stay at home for most of the day.
Rising temperatures prompted an orange warning for Lyon and Grenoble by Europe’s network of national meteorological services, which told people that "everyone is in danger, even those in good health” and warned them not to go out between 11am and 9pm. French nuclear production is also likely to be curbed from Saturday because of cooling water restrictions.
Over the next few days, southern and central France will reach 5C to 9C (9F to 16F) above normal, according to Maxar Technologies Inc. Marseille will hit 35C on Saturday with the mercury not dropping below 30.5C for more than a week, the forecaster said in a daily report. Paris is also poised to get hotter early next week.
Extreme weather has hit the Northern Hemisphere from the US to China this summer, bringing fires, floods and violent storms as climate change increases the intensity of heat waves. That comes after the world’s hottest ever month in July.
In Germany, where the heat wave have caused panic as the nation is not equipped for extreme heat, temperatures in Frankfurt will peak at 31.5C on Tuesday, with a few degrees below that through this week.
Further south, a sub-Saharan anti-cyclone is ramping up the heat in Italy, with temperatures set to peak at 42C in Sardinia and 38C in Rome, Florence and most of the Po Valley, according to Italy’s Il Meteo.
The latest place to enjoy some heat after a prolonged period of cold and wet weather is Amsterdam, where temperatures will fluctuate from 2 to 4C above the norm, reaching 26.5C on Friday, according to Maxar.
