Latest news with #Météo-France


Local France
6 days ago
- Climate
- Local France
14 Essential websites and apps for summer in France
Please note: links here are to the websites. You can download apps from your usual app store. Météo-France Knowing what the weather will be like is always useful - and France can do torrential showers and glorious sunshine in a single day - but the French national weather forecaster Météo France does more than a simple 10-day forecast. It's also updated regularly with the latest weather warnings, covering everything from high temperatures and heatwaves , to sudden and dramatic storms that can bring down trees and cause floods. France has some serious weather which can put lives at risk, so it's a good idea to be aware if a warning is issued. READ ALSO Explained: What does a red weather warning mean in France? You can check alert levels for each area via Météo-France, while anyone in France is advised to sign up for the FR-Alert system , which sends text messages in the case of emergency, including orders from local authorities to evacuate. Advertisement Soleilrisk Soleilrisk is an app developed by the French National Union of Dermatologists in conjunction with Météo-France that helps users get a glowing tan while avoiding risks thanks to daily UV index readings across the country. Alerts can be activated when the UV index is high, and users also have access to a directory of dermatologists. Everything you need for safe sunbathing…. Bathe safely Is it safe to take a dip in the sea?You'd like to think so, but you can be sure with the Infoplage app, which offers real-time information on the quality of the bathing water, weather conditions and the colour of the safety flags at beaches the length and breadth of the country. Feux de Forêt Linked to the weather, summer is wildfire season in France – when high temperatures, low rainfall (despite those sudden storms) and strong winds combine to heighten the fire risk. This is a particular problem in the warmer south of the country. Firefighters have already had to deal with numerous blazes – and some parts of the Mediterranean arc are on high alert for forest fires, which can cause (and have caused) widespread damage and travel disruption. READ ALSO Is France ready for a summer of increasingly severe wildfires? There is an app that allows anyone from any location to monitor forest fires in France, called 'Feux de Forêt' and is available for download on iPhones and Android. It sends alerts of any new fire outbreaks in your area. It could also be particularly useful for second-home owners, as you can also monitor ongoing fires from a distance by updating your notifications to decide which départements you would like to get alerts for. Bison Futé There are some days – particularly during the long summer holidays – when it's best simply to leave motorway travel to everyone else. There are days when it seems like the entire population of France is on one of the country's autoroutes or another, with a good chunk of northern Europeans also using France as a rat-run to southern Europe, and the sun. Advertisement Fortunately, the busy days are mostly predictable. Keep an eye on France's roads watchdog Bison Futé, which forecasts traffic levels on the country's main arterial routes, and signals trouble using a colour-coded map of France. Green is good. Red is not. Black is, basically, nationwide gridlock. And avoid, at all costs, the chasée-croisé . SNCF Connect There is no better way to see France than by train – this is just a fact. The SNCF Connect app allows you to book your rail travel, using any discount cards you may have, and provides real-time updates on train times, platform changes, or delays on the line. Michelin Route Planner This handy map app from the tyre manufacturer and food critic does everything other map apps do – and also estimates how much your planned journey will cost in fuel, time, and any tolls. The Fork Speaking of food, if you want to eat out, The Fork lists a huge selection of restaurants (around 40,000) in every one of France's main cities, with ratings, comments, photos and special offers. Advertisement The app is easy to use, and you can book a table via the app without having to speak a word of French. Pollen Index One for allergy sufferers. France has developed an early warning pollen forecast device, called the Atmo France Pollen Index. It's calculated and updated using real-time statistical data, pollen readings, weather forecasts and information from the Copernicus platform, which provides a three-day air quality and pollen count forecasts nationally, regionally, and right down to individual towns and villages. The website offers an interactive map of the country, which shows pollen levels using six different colours. You can even get information and pollen forecasts for the next couple of days at a commune level. Paris If you're visiting Paris there are a few specific apps and websites that you might find helpful Bonjour RATP / Ile de France Mobilités Two website / apps in one here, but both are indispensable for using public transport in and around Paris, and allow you to buy tickets on the app, without having to queue at ticket machines in the stations. They also offer real-time updates – handy in summer because of station closures – and a handy Metro route-planner. The Citymapper app is also for planning a journey in any of France's bigger cities. Advertisement Paris en Seine This summer, for the first time in more than 100 years, it's possible to swim in the River Seine, in three designated areas. You'll need to check the opening times in advance, and check the regularly updated map of water quality - the water is tested every day and if pollution levels are judged too high for safe swimming, the bathing spots will be closed. This can happen after heavy rain. La vasque If you were watching the Paris 2024 Olympics you might remember the spectacular hot air balloon rising over the city. Well, it's back this summer - the balloon is tethered in the Tuileries gardens and rises into the air each night at sunset. This site gives details of the rise time, as well as updated if the lift-off is cancelled due to bad weather. . . . and a couple of language options Google Translate Translation apps still aren't as good as knowing a language well enough to hold a conversation, but for the basics of day-to-day holiday living, they'll do just fine. With Google Translate, you can take a picture of a sign – or, say, a menu – on your phone and a translation will appear in your preferred language. The much-touted conversation feature – which is supposed to be able to automatically identify spoken language – is still very much a work in progress, by all accounts, but a little lateral thinking will get you by. British consumer watchdog Which? recently found it – and rival translation tool DeepL – were the most accurate of four big language apps tested (the others were Microsoft and Apple). DeepL, it said, was better on colloquial language you might encounter – but the sheer number of languages available on Google, and the fact it works offline, counts in the internet giant's favour. Both Google Translate and DeepL, it has to be said, are pretty good with French. Duolingo Conversations via translation app are one – slow and jarringly disjointed – thing, but nothing beats being able to hold a conversation with a local in their language. And if you don't mind being emotionally abused by an imaginary owl, then Duolingo will help you do that. We're not about to suggest Duolingo will get you from zero to fluent in a matter of weeks (if learning French was that easy, everyone would do it), but you'll gradually pick up more and more without referring to your translation app, or heading off in the wrong direction after listening to a blizzard of directions from a speed-talking Toulousain.


Local France
15-07-2025
- Climate
- Local France
In numbers: Are summers in France really getting hotter?
Picture your childhood, and you'll often see it bathed in sunshine - especially if you were lucky enough to have holidays in the south of France as a youngster. But in the 21st century discussion of sunny weather is just as likely to be accompanied by heatwave alerts and warnings of the risk to health. So is it the weather that has changed, or how we respond to it? Some things are hard to measure, but fortunately temperature isn't one of them. France has kept detailed national temperature records since 1900, which gives us a decent data to play with, and overall we can see that France is getting hotter. The temperatures Météo France, the French national weather forecaster, says : "Since 1900, the average temperature in France has warmed by 1.7C. "Every decade since 1970 has been warmer than the previous one. Over the last ten years, from 2011 to 2020, the rise has been +0.6C, the highest increase observed between two decades in France since 1900." Overall, 2022 was the hottest year on record in France, with a record 33 days meeting officially defined heatwave conditions: five in June and 14 in both July and August. Advertisement The average covers the entire year, but the data also shows that summers (which Météo France counts as running from June 1st to August 31st) are also getting hotter. The hottest summers recorded since 1900 are all recent ones - 2003, 2022, 2018, 2023 and 2019. The below chart shows the average summer temperature for the years 1900 to 2024 compared to the overall average for the century, with the summers below average in blue and those above average in red - the red bars are heavily clustered around the most recent years. Average summer temperatures from 1900 to 2024 compared to the average - with below average in blue and above average in red. Graphic: Meteo France But the summer isn't just about the average temperature, it's also about heatwaves. A heatwave is defined by Météo France as a period of several days when the temperature is above average for the region - that's the reason that the same temperature can be a 'heatwave' in one part of France, but not in another - it's about what is considered normal for that area. And the French data shows that heatwaves are becoming a lot more common. Between 1947 and 2024, Météo-France recorded 49 heatwaves - between 1947 and 1957, four heatwaves were recorded. This figure has increased five-fold over the last 10 years and between 2014 to 2024, 20 heatwaves were recorded. The heatwaves themselves are also happening earlier in the summer , and are recording higher temperatures - France's national record for the hottest day was set in 2019 (in Hérault which recorded 46C in the shade). That same year multiple local records were broken, including in Paris which recorded 42.6C. "We have observed, in a very well-documented manner, that heatwaves are occurring earlier and earlier, lasting longer and longer, and becoming more intense," Météo-France forecaster François Gourand told Franceinfo . Weather alerts But while it's beyond any reasonable doubt that France's summers are indeed getting hotter, there has also been a change in weather forecasting and the response. The impetus for this in France was the summer of 2003 - when a particularly severe and long-lasting heatwave led to the deaths of 15,000 people, many of them elderly people who died alone at home. This brought people face to face with the hard fact that heatwaves are not simply uncomfortable - they can be fatal. Advertisement Stung into action, local and national government began seriously improving their heatwave plans - now every authority has plans to protect the vulnerable in hot weather, including 'cool rooms' open to the public and a register of people who might be at risk in a heatwave, who can request check-ups. In urban areas, leaders got serious about installing drinking water points, cool air misters and access to shady and air conditioned spaces. Since 2003 there have been heatwaves that have lasted longer and have recorded higher temperatures - but that huge death toll has never been repeated, thanks in large part to the warnings and protective measures deployed. Heatwaves do still kill though - in 2023 (France's fourth hottest summer on record) 400 people died during in a two-week heatwave in August. Overall 5,000 excess deaths were recorded between June 1st and September 15th 2023, of which 1,500 were attributed to the heat. READ ALSO : Explained: How dangerous are French heatwaves?✎ Météo France has also developed its traffic light weather warning system so that heatwave risks are graded from green (no risk) through yellow and orange to red, the highest alert level which means a possible danger to life . Advertisement When a red alert is issued certain emergency plans swing into place and local authorities also get extra powers to do things like cancel large public events if they decide it is necessary. Heatwaves don't just make it hot though - they also increase the risk of drought and wildfire. Since 2022 - France's worst year on record for wildfires when 72,000 hectares (an area seven times the size of Paris) burned - Météo France also issues a daily wildfire risk map during the summer, in which places are graded based on their risk. As with the weather map, once a red alert is in place local authorities get the power to do things like close forests and national parks or cancel fireworks displays. READ ALSO : Is France ready for a summer of increasingly severe wildfires?✎ You can expect widespread news coverage when red warnings for either heatwave or wildfires are issued. So yes, you're likely to see more media coverage around the negative effects of heat - but French summers are definitely getting hotter.


Local France
06-07-2025
- Climate
- Local France
Fire in France's Hérault "under control" but on red alert for further outbreaks
"The fire has been under control since last night around 1:00 a.m," Lieutenant Colonel Jérôme Bonnafoux of the Departmental Fire and Rescue Service told AFP by telephone. "200 firefighters are on site to deal with critical areas and edges," he added, specifying that "firefighters will remain on watch all day." Despite the lifting of the orange heatwave alert, part of Hérault and the entire Bouches-du-Rhône department were placed on red alert for forest fires on Sunday. The Var and Aude departments would also be on red alert from Monday, with access to forest areas prohibited. Large fires broke out Saturday in the departments of Hérault, Bouches-du-Rhône, and Aude, where an orange heatwave alert ( vigilance orange ), which has been in effect since June 27, was lifted Sunday morning by French weather service Météo-France. In Hérault, the fire that started early Saturday afternoon in the Gardiole massif, located between Montpellier and Sète, closed the A9 motorway for five hours, causing major traffic jams in the middle of a busy holiday weekend. Traffic jams reached up to 10 kilometres in each direction on the motorway, with water being distributed to the numerous motorists stranded under the blazing sun. READ ALSO: PODCAST: From strikes to extreme heat - what to expect in France this summer Further east, in Bouches-du-Rhône, a fire on the tourist-heavy Côte Bleue, about fifteen kilometres northwest of Marseille, was "contained" Saturday morning after spreading across about a hundred hectares of forest. Advertisement In Mireval, near the southern city of Montpellier, a blaze fanned by swirling winds led firefighters to evacuate about 10 people. "It was very frightening, especially between 4:00 pm (1400 GMT) and 6:30 pm. The air was unbearable to breathe, there was a lot of smoke in the village, you couldn't see anything anymore and large ashes were falling from the sky," said 46-year-old resident Lorette Gargaud. In the Aude department, a week after the first major fire there, a new blaze, sparked by a car fire on the A61 motorway, had swept through 400 hectares of vegetation by the end of the day. Three hundred firefighters and significant aerial resources were deployed to help extinguish the fire. READ ALSO: How hot will it get in France this summer Meteo-France said on Saturday the punishing heatwave that began on June 19 had officially ended on Friday, lasting in all 16 days – the same length as the country's deadly 2003 heatwave.


Euronews
02-07-2025
- Climate
- Euronews
June heatwave pushes Europe into record-breaking territory
As Europe bakes in its first major heatwave of the year, temperature records are being broken across the continent. During June, countries experienced temperatures more typical of July and August, with records broken from the Arctic Circle to the Mediterranean. The Portuguese weather service (IPMA) reported 46.6 °C in Mora on 29 June - the hottest ever recorded in mainland Portugal during June. Norway's Banak station reached 32.5°C, the highest temperature ever recorded within the European Arctic for the month. The extreme heat has brought health warnings, school closures and restrictions on outdoor work. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) has said that for the continent as a whole, this month is likely to rank among the top five warmest Junes on record. How long will Europe's heatwave last? Scientists have said that this extended period of above-average temperatures is being caused by a heat dome. This is when a high-pressure area stays over the same place for days or even weeks, trapping the hot air below it. This acts something like a saucepan lid, causing temperatures to become hotter and hotter. Last week, a strong area of high pressure built over Western Europe. It extended up across Spain and Portugal into France, then spread to Germany and Italy over the weekend. After days of record-breaking heat, forecasters say there will be some relief on Wednesday into Thursday as thunderstorms and cooler temperatures arrive from the Atlantic, according to Météo-France. Spain and Italy may have to wait until the weekend to see temperatures begin to drop. France sees its second-hottest June since 1900 In France, temperatures of 40°C were recorded in Paris on Tuesday. The country's national weather agency placed several regions under the highest red alert. More than 1,300 schools were fully or partially closed across the country, and the summit of the Eiffel Tower has been closed to visitors until Thursday because of the heat. "June 2025 has become the second hottest June since records began in 1900, behind June 2003," French Ecology Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said on Wednesday morning. 30 June was the hottest day since measurements began in 1947, according to Météo-France. Later, Pannier-Runacher added that more than 300 people have been taken into emergency care, and two had died as a result of heat-related illnesses. June 'pulverised' heat records in Spain Spanish weather service Aemet said that an 'extremely hot' June had 'pulverised records', surpassing the normal averages for July and August. It recorded an average of 23.6°C - the highest for the month in 64 years and 0.8°C higher than the previous record set in 2017. Provisional data shows that nine days in June broke records for their respective dates. Aemet says that in an 'undisturbed climate', five record warm days would be expected in an entire year. Ramón Pascual, a delegate for Spain's weather service in Barcelona, told The Associated Press the "very intense heat wave' is clearly linked to global warming. High sea surface temperatures in the Mediterranean are not helping either, as they reduce any cooling effects a nearby body of water might have. Millions of Europeans are being exposed to high heat stress The June-July heatwave is exposing millions of Europeans to high heat stress, according to Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at the ECMWF. 'And our reanalysis data shows that many Europeans have experienced very high temperatures for the period since the start of June,' she adds. 'The temperatures observed recently are more typical of the months of July and August and tend to only happen a few times each summer. We saw it again in 2024, the warmest year on record.' Burgess also says climate change is making heatwaves more frequent and more intense, and they are now impacting larger geographical areas. Hot spells like this could become more frequent in the UK The UK experienced its hottest day of the year so far on Tuesday with a recorded temperature of 34.7°C in London's St James's Park. Provisional data from the Met Office indicates that the country experienced its second warmest June since 1884. The average temperature for the month reached 15.2°C, only surpassed by June 2023, which saw average temperatures of 15.8°C. It follows a record-breaking spring that was officially the warmest and sunniest on record. June continued that trend, the Met Office said, marked by two heatwaves and high temperatures at the end of the month. 'While we've not conducted formal climate attribution studies into June 2025's two heatwaves, past studies have shown it is virtually certain that human influence has increased the occurrence and intensity of extreme heat events such as this,' says Met Office climate scientist Dr Amy Doherty. Doherty adds that numerous climate attribution studies have shown that human influence increased the chance of specific heatwaves occurring, including those in summer 2018 and July 2022. "Our Met Office climate projections indicate that hot spells will become more frequent in our future climate, particularly over the southeast of the UK. Temperatures are projected to rise in all seasons, but the heat would be most intense in summer."


France 24
02-07-2025
- Climate
- France 24
Cooler temperatures coming to Europe after scorching heatwave
After days of record-breaking heatwaves across Europe, relief will start to arrive from the Atlantic on Wednesday, bringing thunderstorms and cooler temperatures to parts of western Europe. Paris hit 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday, but the high will drop to 35C on Wednesday and to 28C on Thursday, Météo-France forecast. "Our latest forecasts confirm the arrival of cooling from the west on Wednesday, which will quickly affect the northwest of the country," Météo-France said, adding that there could be heavy thunderstorms late Wednesday and Thursday in the east along the German border. Germany 's national weather service is forecasting a peak of 40C on Wednesday in the economic capital Frankfurt, but that will plummet to 27C by Thursday. Spain and Italy, meanwhile, may have to wait for the weekend to see some limited relief. On Tuesday, around 2,200 schools were shut in France because of the heat, but only about 135 are expected to be kept closed Wednesday, the education ministry said. Météo-France said June 30 was the hottest June day since measurements began in 1947, beating out a record set in 2019. Similar records were set Tuesday in Portugal and the Netherlands. "For the continent as a whole, the month is likely to be ranked among the top 5 warmest Junes on record," said the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. On Sunday, in a case of two extremes, the Mediterranean Sea hit a record-high temperature for June while Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Europe, went above freezing, a rarity for this time of year. In Turkey, forest fires that broke out over the weekend around Izmir in the west and Hatay in the south were largely brought under control, authorities said Tuesday evening, though they warned about continued risks from dry, hot winds. 'Silent killer' Tens of thousands of people have died in Europe during past heatwaves, prompting authorities to issue warnings for old and young, the sick, and others vulnerable to what experts call a "silent killer". On Tuesday, police in Spain said a two-year-old died in the country's northeast after being left in a car in the sun for several hours. "Due to climate change caused by humans, extreme heat is becoming more frequent and intense. This is something we must learn to live with," said Clare Nullis, spokesperson for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a UN agency based in Geneva. Extreme heat can cause dehydration, muscle cramps, headaches and nausea. The most serious risk is heatstroke, which can lead to death, especially in vulnerable people. Free guided tours of air-conditioned museums in Venice and free access to swimming pools in Rome were offered to protect seniors. According to a report by Allianz Trade on Tuesday, the European economy could lose 0.5 percentage points of growth this year due to recent heatwaves. The health impact will take longer to assess. According to France's Ministry of Health, an initial estimate of excess mortality during the period will be available approximately two weeks after the end of the heatwave, but detailed data based on medical data will not be available until the fall.