Weather alerts across France as mercury rises higher
A total 18 departments on heatwave alert, and six on storm warning
Temperatures in the Côte-d'Or, eastern France, reached 38.4C on Thursday - and forecasters warned that they could rise higher still on Friday, before a break in the weather at the weekend.
The mercury edged past 101F at a weather station in Châtillon-sur-Seine. Elsewhere, 35.7C was recorded in Lille and 37.2C in Paris. It reached 37C in Carpentras and Orange, 37.9C in Aubenas, 36.6C in Chaumont, and between 35-36C in Gourdon, Orléans and Nancy.
At 5am on Friday, temperatures of 24.6C were recorded in Paris, 21.7C in Lille, and 22.1 in Lyon.
Météo-France forecast temperatures are set to reach between 35C and 38C in 18 departments - Aisne, Ardèche, Côte-d'Or, Drôme, Marne, Nord, Pas-de-Calais, Rhône, Saône-et-Loire, Paris, Seine-et-Marne, Yvelines, Somme, Essonne, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne and Val d'Oise - that it placed on orange heatwave alert on Friday.
The following departments in the north were placed on alert for storms in Meteo France's early-morning bulletin: Somme, Pas-de-Calais, Nord, Seine-Maritime, Eure and Oise.
As reported, brief respite is expected over most of the country this weekend, courtesy of storms spreading across much of the country from the north and west.
For the third consecutive day traffic restrictions are in place across Ile de France. Vehicles that have Crit'Air 4 or 5 stickers are banned from an area within the A68 until midnight, while those over 3.5tonnes are obliged to bypass the city.
