Northern France basks in record sunshine
Le Touquet smashes 43-year-old mark, as north of country basks in warm, dry weather
Sunshine records have tumbled in the north of France this summer, according to official figures - and the blue skies are set to stay for another week at least, forecasters have said.
Between June 21, the date summer officially starts in France, and July 19, Le Touquet basked in 353 hours of sunshine, smashing the previous best of 309 hours set in 1976, a year well known in France and Britain for its heatwave.
Abbeville, just 50km along the A16 from Le Tourquet, recorded 338 hours of sunshine over the same period, some 30 hours more than the previous record set in 2010.
Meanwhile, weather stations in Caen, Cherbourg , Dinard, Saint-Brieuc and Brest also recorded record sunshine levels over the 28-day period.
Forecasters had predicted a warmer, drier summer than usual in the north.
While it has been mainly sunny and warm across the whole of the country, the northern half has been spared the storms that have hit southern areas, and it has basked in the same exceptional conditions as both Britain and Scandinavia.
Regional newspaper Le Republicain Lorraine, for example, reported that only one storm - on the evening of July 15 - had been recorded across its circulation area since the end of June.
And the fine weather is set to last, forecasters at Météo-France said, as they predicted warm and sunny days until next weekend at least, with temperatures in the north of the country reaching upwards of 30C.
