Weather warnings are in place with thunderstorms set to strike vast areas of France from Sunday, June 22, following the heatwave that has pushed temperatures above 35C across much of the country.
A total of 63 departments have been placed on (tier-two yellow) alert by state forecaster Météo France, with 46 for storms and the remainder due to the continuing heatwave.
‘Dry storms’
Météo France
The stormy conditions are forecast to remain in place throughout next week, bringing gales and lightning - but little rain.
This will bring some respite to the hot conditions, however, temperatures are forecast to remain above 20C at night until Thursday, June 26.
“We're going to have a great clash of air masses. This will encourage a large thunderstorm, sometimes violent,” meteorologist Yann Amice told actu.fr, adding that they would be “dry storms”.
“With the change in wind, there will be maritime inflows from the west to south-west, which will come into contact with the very warm air inland.
“This humidity will act like a fuel, creating strong atmospheric instability conducive to the formation of thunderstorms.”
The first signs of the unstable conditions appeared on Saturday morning, with weak thunderstorms near Nantes and in parts of Brittany.
These are expected to intensify on Sunday, spreading from the Pays de la Loire to the Hauts-de-France, according to Météo France.
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By Sunday evening, conditions are forecast to worsen in Occitanie and around Toulouse, as humid maritime air clashes with hot inland air, triggering increased atmospheric instability.
During the night from Sunday to Monday, the storm front will likely move in a south-west to north-east diagonal, reaching Alsace by Monday morning.
Storm activity should ease on Tuesday before intensifying again on Wednesday, when models show conditions especially conducive to large storm systems.
Wednesday’s storm risk is linked to the arrival of a thalweg – a trough of low pressure at high altitude – bringing cooler upper air that will collide with hot surface temperatures.
This storm front should also bring rain to most of mainland France, from Occitanie and the Lyon area to Paris and the Jura.
A return to more settled, drier weather is forecast for Friday, June 27, with the arrival of a new high-pressure system.
