Is France heading for summer heatwave?

France is set to see a spike in temperatures in the next few days but it is too early to describe it as a heatwave, according to meteorologists. Weather forecasters predict that temperatures will reach highs of 35-37°C but that the sharp increase will not last more than three days.

J.Phil Yperbien / Creative Commons

Temperatures reached 35 degrees in Paris on Friday and there was also significantly warmer weather than usual in the south-eastern Rhône-Alpes region last weekend.

Temperatures returned to a level close to the seasonal average this week but forecasters believe they will start to increase again from Thursday, particularly in the south-west of the country.

The east of the country is also set to experience much warmer weather over the weekend.

But for the moment, weather forecasters are ruling out a heatwave similar to that of 2003.

“A heatwave is when a period of much warmer weather lasts,” Dominique Raspaud of Météo France said.

“But we’re not in that situation because it won’t last more than three days. Temperatures are coming back to a more reasonable level from Monday.”

However, Météo France predicts that, overall, the summer of 2010 will be hotter and dryer than the average over the last 30 years in France.