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France to see 30C temperatures over weekend

French weather forecaster Météo France has predicted an unusually hot weekend for October - with temperatures set to top 30C in much of the country.

Published: 6 October 2023 17:22 CEST

France to see 30C temperatures over weekend

France is predicted to have a hot weekend. Photo: AFP

France’s autumn heatwave is predicted to continue with high temperatures over the weekend and into next week.

With much of the country already seeing hot, sunny weather more usual for the height of summer – October is set to continue to break temperature records.

Météo France predicts that large swathes of southern France will see temperatures up to 30C on Saturday and Sunday.

“The 30C threshold will be reached quite often in Occitanie and southern Aquitaine, and locally in the interior of Provence”, said Météo France. “The mercury will reach levels that are highly unusual for October, and sometimes unheard of this late in the season.”

The south-west cities of Tarbes and Toulouse are predicted to see the hottest temperatures.

The north will be a little cooler but still likely to be warm and sunny, with temperatures of 23C predicted for Paris.

The warm weather is set to continue into next week.

“On Monday, most regions will see temperatures in excess of 25C, while readings between 30C and 32C will be fairly common in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Occitanie, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and the Loire Valley,” continued the weather bulletin, which adds that new monthly records for an October could be set.

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Vast France building project sunk by sea level rise fears

Conceived in the early 2010s, the development was to transform a strip of industrial wasteland between the River Orne and the canal linking Caen to the sea into 2,300 homes, as well as tens of thousands of square metres of office space.

But the construction “will not happen”, said Thibaud Tiercelet, director general of the “Caen Peninsula” planning society in charge of the “Nouveau Bassin” (New Basin) project.

In 2023, just as all the authorisations to start work on the project had been obtained, Tiercelet was alerted by a group of experts tasked with determining the impact of climate change on the Normandy region.

That group’s findings were stark enough to convince then-Caen mayor Joel Bruneau to sink the development.

“In 2017, the estimated rise in sea level was 20 centimetres by 2100,” Tiercelet recalled of the data.

But “in 2020 it was 60 centimetres, and in 2023 it was one metre”.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projects a “likely” sea level rise of 40 to 80 centimetres by 2100.

READ MORE: MAPS: The parts of France set to be underwater as sea levels rise

But it also notes this estimate does not take into account poorly understood drivers that could push sea levels significantly higher, such as the rapid disintegration of the polar ice sheets.

In any case, the IPCC advises that urban planners in coastal cities “may wish to consider global-mean sea level rise above the assessed likely range”.

‘It will flood every week’

At present, the 17-kilometre-long strip, dubbed Caen’s “peninsula”, is only 70 centimetres above the canal’s water level.

“If the sea rises by one metre, it will flood here every week,” urban planner Tiercelet said.

While climate scientists stress that there is uncertainty about the extent and pace of the rise in water levels, the fact is that they will happen.

As for the level of the canal, it is currently regulated by a lock “which only has 50 centimetres of leeway at high tide”, noted Tiercelet.

So in a few decades, it may no longer be able to fulfil its role.

Plans for the development have been shelved as a result, with improvements to the promenade on the “peninsula” scheduled instead — pending a study into the water dynamics of the entire Orne river estuary.

‘Temporary uses’

Besides the project, the sea level rise projections also scuppered “the extension of the tramway and an access footbridge” to the strip, said Emmanuel Renard, vice-president for land use and development in the Caen-la-Mer urban community.

Renard said they were looking at “transitional urban planning for 40 years with temporary uses” for the area — which could include student housing or craft workshops on the land where disused warehouses are awaiting demolition.

As seawater rises more frequently through the estuary and groundwater, the strip’s freshwater ecosystem will gradually become saline and brackish.

READ MORE: MAP: The French towns at urgent risk from coastal erosion

The tree species that will soon be planted around the promenade, which is currently being cleaned up, have been chosen to suit this future ecosystem.

“It’s the end of a 170-year-old model, of the technological explosion that allowed the era of large-scale construction and mastery over our environment,” Tiercelet said.

“And now we’re going to have to adapt.”

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