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WEATHER

June 2023 was one of France’s hottest and stormiest on record

June 2023 was one of the hottest, sunniest - and stormiest - on record in France, with forecasters predicting more hot and unsettled weather across the rest of the summer.

June 2023 was one of France's hottest and stormiest on record
Storm clouds and lightning over Notre-Dame Cathedral in Strasbourg, on June 22, 2023. (Photo by PATRICK HERTZOG / AFP)

In fact, June 2023 has been something of a weather paradox, the experts have said. It’s expected temperatures will be, on average, 2.5C higher than seasonal norms, but without any heatwaves.

Only June 2003 – the start of a deadly summer in which 15,000 excess deaths linked to heat were recorded – has been, on average, warmer than 2023, national forecaster Météo France said as it released its collated figures for the month.

The heat was particularly marked over a large part of the northern half of the country, while thunderstorms followed one another in the south. 

“Temperatures, both minimum and maximum, remained very mild across France throughout the month, although the country did not experience a real heatwave,” Météo France said. “For France as a whole and for the month as a whole, the average temperature, at over 21C, is expected to be more than 2.5C above normal.”

The amount of sunshine has also broken records for the period 1991-2023 – with Brittany, Pays-de-la-Loire and northern and northeastern areas seeing up to 50 percent more sun than normal.

Sunshine levels were around normal in the southern half of the country, and even lower than average in the south of Nouvelle Aquitaine, across to to the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region and Corsica.

The past month was also remarkable for its thunderstorm activity.

“June 2023 is already the second most lightning-struck June over the 1997-2023 period, behind June 2022, with twice as many lightning strikes as the average up to June 28,” Météo France said.

Rainfall levels, meanwhile, are “close to normal” across the country, the forecaster said – though “this conceals a highly contrasting situation from one region to another”.

Rainfall totals were well below normal in Hauts-de-France, Brittany and Alsace – where sunshine was well above average, while beating seasonal norms further south.

Globally average temperatures in early June were the hottest ever recorded for this period by the European Copernicus service. Figures for the second half of the month have yet to be published.

The most likely scenario is for warmer-than-normal conditions across France in July, August and September, and wetter-than-normal conditions in the south, from the Pyrenees to the Mediterranean basin, Météo France predicted in its longer-term forecast. 

It added, however, that “wetter than normal” in the Mediterranean arc does not necessarily equate to large amounts of rain because the area is habitually very dry in the summer.

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HEALTH

Storms prompt asthma and pollen warnings in France

Asthmatics and anyone with pollen allergies have been warned to be on the alert in the coming days, as a wave of thunderstorms are forecast to hit large areas in south, central and eastern France creating a 'pollen storm'.

Storms prompt asthma and pollen warnings in France

Storms began to spread across parts of France on Thursday and are set to be a key feature on the forecasts through to Sunday, with experts warning that they could trigger ‘storm-induced’ asthma attacks.

The combination of electrical storms and high pollen concentrations in the southern half of the country is set to increase the risk of respiratory problems from Friday, France’s Réseau National de Surveillance Aérobiologique (RNSA) warned. 

This phenomenon causes pollen grains to break up into fine particles, which spread rapidly and penetrate more deeply into the respiratory system. People allergic to pollen and asthma sufferers are among those most at risk.

On Friday, some 23 départements were under yellow alert for thunderstorms, with a southern belt stretching from the Landes, in the south-west to the Alps in the south-east. This figure is set to fall to 11 on Saturday, mainly in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and southern Burgundy-Franche-Comté.

Yellow alerts for thunderstorms in southern France increase the risk of pollen allergies. Alerts in place on Friday, June 7. Map: MeteoFrance

“These weather conditions, combined with the high concentrations of grass pollen currently observed and forecast for this week … considerably increase the risk of storm-induced asthma,” the RNSA said in a press release. 

Pollen counts are extremely high over a large band of France, from the Atlantic coast to Alsace and the entire south-western quarter, it said.

During the first half-hour of a thunderstorm, patients suffering from pollen allergies may inhale a high concentration of the allergenic material that is dispersed into the atmosphere, which in turn can induce asthmatic reactions, often severe

Experts don’t fully understand why these events trigger breathing problems. But air flow within a thunderstorm system is thought to be important. 

Thunderstorms form when warm wetter air on the earth’s surface is beneath much cooler air higher in the atmosphere. The warm air rises quickly (known as up-draft) which causes the cool air to flow down towards the ground (known as down-draft). As the warm air rises, it cools and the moisture condenses into clouds and water molecules.

As a result pollen concentration “increases rapidly close to the ground with the strong downward winds that carry grass pollen from the upper air layers to the air layers close to the ground,” the RNSA said. 

Pollen then becomes waterlogged and bursts open under the combined effect of high air humidity, gusts of wind and variations in the electric field in the atmosphere. “The result is fine allergenic particles that can penetrate even deeper into the lungs”.

Thunderstorm asthma manifests itself as breathing difficulties comparable to an asthma attack, and occurs mainly – but not exclusively – in people allergic to grass pollen and asthmatics in general, but also in children and young adults. 

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