Michel Aïdonidis is head of the Météo France center in Brest-Guipavas and details the weather forecast for the days to come.
What is Météo France’s forecast for the next few days?
Over a large part of the country, there will be heat peaks, especially from Sunday July 29 in the South. In Brittany, the weather will seriously change this same weekend, with a disturbance and clouds coming from the British Isles. This is why temperatures will rise less in the region than in the rest of the country. Despite everything, the situation is still not normal: even with these clouds, temperatures will remain higher than normal for the season. Currently, we should be around 21 degrees according to normal, while in Finistère, for example, we expect rather between 22 and 25 degrees. Today, knowing that things can change, there is no new period of heat wave in sight in Brittany, even if the temperatures will start to rise again at the beginning of August.
While Brittany is affected by a period of drought, could the cloud formations you mention bring rain?
Saturday July 29 in the morning, we can expect a few drops, especially in western Brittany, but it will be really very low. Some slightly heavier rainfall is expected during a new disturbance which should pass on Wednesday August 3rd. We may have a few extra drops: one, two or three millimeters, but it’s ridiculous compared to what was expected. On the horizon of about ten days, we do not see any future change in the level of precipitation. The situation will not change at all on this point.
How high temperatures and the absence of rain can aggravate the phenomenon of drought?
The drought situation has persisted since last winter and is accentuated by very high temperatures. The warmer it is, the more moisture tends to evaporate. We therefore find ourselves in an extreme situation. The north of Finistère, for example, is already in a very dry situation. It would take several days of rain with a few millimeters each day to improve the situation. There, on the foreseeable horizon, we don’t see anything coming that will change this situation, both in terms of drought and temperatures. Water management becomes extremely problematic. We are on heightened vigilance for the drought and if the rain does not arrive in the coming weeks, there will certainly be other decisions taken by the prefectural authorities.
letelegramme Fr Trans