Today forecast was way out of mark and very wrong with temps and forecast only few showers and 23-24C.  It cloudy and cool here at 19C after little rain this morning  Boot sales was open this morning as the organizers got caught out from the wrong forecast.  Went there and poor sellers have to cover their items or put them back in the car until it stopped.

The same reason why a lot of people, including many here from what I have read over time, clamour for snow in the winter, and it can certainly cause dangerous and hazardous situations for many people, not least when venturing out on the roads. I personally like the snow, but I fully respect & understand the viewpoint of those that don't like it for whatever reasons.

To me, t-storms are just a lot of horrible noise, which most likely scares many very young children to death (as they did with me back in the day) and many domestic pets such as cats and dogs. I have always regarded myself as a peace and quiet loving person and that's probably part of the reason why I'm not a fan of thunder. T-storms can be spectacular to watch and I have nothing against anyone that wants to jump in their car and go on the road and follow them (as many do in the states), but to be honest they're not my idea of entertainment.

I've been weighing up whether to start a topic devoted to the French heatwave but decided it's probably sufficient to post occasional updates in here, at least until this thread runs out of steam when the temperatures drop. But without doubt it's starting to look like an event to rival the extremes of 2003, 2006, 1983 and 1976. By contrast with those 4 we in Britain have only been on the margins of this one.

I have a particular interest in Macon as I have a holiday home not far from there but nationally it's been quite something too. Especially, for some reason, up the tops of mountains as you'll see below. A few highlights so far, courtesy of Meteociel:

30 June: The heat peaks in the South West, with monthly records set in 18 towns in the region including 40.2C at Cazaux, Gironde, the second highest of this heatwave.

1 July: The first peak of the heat across the central parts of France. 4 all time records beaten and another 10 July records. The highest (and current top for this heatwave) being 40.8C at Chapet just North West of Paris, with a number of readings over 39C in the Paris area and a bonkers 30.9C at the top of Mont Dore in the Massif Central, 1,220m asl.

2 July: Things cool off a tad across the North and West and the heat concentrates in the Centre and East of the country. 2 July records, in high altitude locations in Vosges and Haute Marne, just shy of 36C. (Worth noting that many of these July records are in all time second place to records broken in August 2003).

3 July: The canicule peaks in the Centre and East. 14 July records broken with the top being 39.8C at Issoire in Puy de Dome. One all time record: Alpe D'Huez hitting 27.7C at 1,860m asl. Lucky it wasn't the day of the Tour Stage there.

4 July: An extraordinarily warm night in Eastern France, especially considering the time of year and the fact SSTs are a way off their peak and humidity has been relatively low. All time records for night minima were broken at 11 sites with the warmest of the bunch being a tropical 26.8C at Lons le Saunier in the Jura. Many other monthly records broken too. Note that unlike daily highs, French national records for nightly mins are never going to be set during in inland locations - these are all held (pretty safely for now) at much higher levels by towns on the Mediterranean coast. Likewise this heatwave is unlikely to beat national records for day peaks either, because these tend to be set in the far South West on an axis from Toulouse to Perpignan and are most likely when a Spanish-based heatwave with 25-30C uppers just creeps over the Pyrenees, rather than during a nationwide event.

After the tropics of the night before another very hot day across the centre and East, but with cooler weather well and truly set in along the channel and West coasts. 9 Monthly records and 1 all time record beaten, 3 equalled including the hotspot of the day, Macon with 39.2C. Also notable Briancon in Haute Alpes, at 1,300m asl, manages 33.5C. Meanwhile some channel ports struggle to reach 20C.

5th July: Another very warm night with 4 monthly minimum records beaten, followed by yet another day with heat concentrated across the centre and East. St Etienne takes the prize today with 39C (only rounded values available at this stage). Worth noting that St Etienne sits at over 400m above sea level! Indeed high temperatures at altitude are a feature of this heatwave, probably because the heat is concentrated in areas that happen also to have mountains. Today we saw 5 all-time records beaten in high altitude locations, and 5 monthly records. Pick of the bunch, Alpe D'Huez trouncing its record earlier in the week by registering 28.5C. Also notable is Epinal in Vosges: it has now beaten its previous monthly record of 35C 4 times in 4 days (Thurs 35.6, Fri 36.1, Sat 36.5 and Sun 36.7).

Macon itself has seen temperatures build steadily during the week, typical of towns in the East. From last Saturday: 28, 30, 32, 35, 36, 37, 37, 39, 38.

France has 2 more days of this current heatwave to survive before temperatures return, albeit temporarily, to more typical summer levels. Maxes on Monday are forecast to be around 36-37C in the Centre and also back again in the South West. Tuesday is the final peak: Somewhere like Vichy, Clermont Ferrand or Moulins could hit 41C. Then by Wednesday values crash as a mainly dry cold front comes through - we are back down to mid 20s across almost the whole country.

How long will the respite last, and could things rebuild again? Quite possibly. Today's 12z GFS shows low 30s creeping back into the SW by Thursday, mid-high 30s there on Friday with 30-31C elsewhere, and full on canicule back in central France by Saturday, up again to 35C+ and staying that way for at least 2 further days. Some ensemble members have us exceeding 40C again the week after next, others show a cooler picture.

Drought ("secheresse") is starting to menace large parts of the country especially the centre and Paris basin, after a string of dry months. This is soil moisture (agricultural) drought rather than hydrological drought, as reservoirs and aquifers are very healthy still. My local online paper for Saone et Loire has 3 separate stories today about bush and field fires, and yesterday they were reporting that the Grosne river, one of the more sensitive to drought as it is surface fed, is dropping at such a rate that it's 4-5 days away from the record lows set in August 2003.

At least the French can reassure themselves that by the time I arrive there in holiday in 2 weeks time, in keeping with tradition the heavens will have opened and it will be cold and cloudy.

Thanks for the info. Top post

Fabulous post there Tim.

Anyone seen this :-)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/weather/11719200/Second-British-heatwave-could-bring-hottest-ever-temperature.html

Right that does it, time to buy the new umbrella and overcoat. Summer's over. Why do people like Brian have to go and spoil it? Especially in articles with library shots of Bournemouth beach.

Anyway I'll be on holiday in France from the 19th so there's no chance it will be anything other than cool and wet for the entire fortnight.

Yesterday from about 3pm turned out quite nice with sunny intervals, managed a few hours in the garden, today has been nice also with good sunny spells, might get an hour or two in the garden shortly 

I certainly won't be searching for a if/when a cool down or how long it will last, will not worry about anything past 5 days, some welcomed rain tomorrow morning followed by a brighter afternoon will do the garden good, end of the week looking reasonable as we head into the start of the weekend.... IMBY 

It quite unfair that we get the heat in last serve and we lose the heat in first go while in Europe bask longer times.  it would had been better if UK get the heat at last part then we should retain the heat and France and Germany eventually lose the heat and then we lose it.  

Tad toasty in Switzerland today!!

http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/

I guess it won`t be long before the summer is over thread appears either

Thanks Tim. A very good account. 

Here in the extreme SE of England we caught a very brief taster of these exceptionally high night time temperatures at the peak of the second plume an hour after the thunderstorms cleared away. A mightily impressive 24.6c was recorded temporarily just after 1am on the 4th July here.

I am sure France hasn't seen the last of these high temperatures.

While we waiting for another heat wave as we don't know when it will come or if ever come this summer so far we had only 1 day for this year.  

I just been remembering the 90's hot spells that often last longer and widespread everywhere than the SE only.  Also indoor temps used to reach 30C at night here before.  This happened easily because prior to every heatwave in the 90's that we had many sunny days that increased the room temps to near par of outside.

Most average max hot temps were 32-34C outside for 2-3 days and indoor temps 28-32C.  

At night outside would be 20-21C for 2-3 nights and 28-30C inside the house.

Thunderstorms was nearly guaranteed and give a fair rain for everyone and not just SE missing out often.

Nowadays it often cloudy and cool then get hot and not overly sunny on 1 day so room temps have no time to respond quickly then next day back to cool weather and often overcast.  Every hot spell had been poor quality and mostly was based in the SE which is completely useless and wasted time.

I am not talking about prolonged hot spells like 1995, 2003 and 2006 but talking about a taking it time and giving us 1 week settled spell prior to 3-4 hot days with over 30C before the storms come and return back to average and does a repeat at times.  

I'm wondering if the Midland,E/SE could see some  over the next few days 

Yep a chance tomorrow evening/night

http://www.estofex.org/

http://modeles.meteociel.fr/modeles/wrfnmm/runs/2015071512/nmmuk-28-34-0.png?15-19 

Looking encouraging for the south later. Level 2 

http://www.estofex.org/

 GFS paint a potentially wet, potentially thundery looking period too.

Met Office on the other hand are are not really buying it.

Regional forecast for London & South East England

Dry with variable cloud and some brightness. Increasingly Warm.

Today:

Rather a lot of cloud around during the morning, especially to the south with some patchy sea fog possible around the coasts for a time. Increasing amounts of sunshine during the afternoon, and becoming increasingly warm and humid. Maximum Temperature 28°C.

Tonight:

Mainly dry at first. Some isolated thundery showers may develop in places during the evening and move northeastwards, mainly in northern and western counties. Dry after midnight but remaining humid. Minimum Temperature 15°C.

Indeed Phil.

23.6c here but fairly steady. It will be interesting to see how the temperatures behave this evening. Quite a notable plume of heat is due here in the 3 hours to midnight with 24c expected at 925Hpa levels.

6 hours to go before we find out if these thunderstorms will occur.

I remain hopeful. The atmosphere appears to be destabilising to the SW with Altocumulus Castellanus popping up.

Storms at the Tour De France today, think they are down near the Pyrenees though 

While discrete popcorn-type cells are popping up around me, it is still being quite sunny overhead here at Folkestone but all rather hazy and soupy in nature.

How could 23.1 C and 63% humidity feel so stuffy and airless even though there is a brisk easterly breeze blowing?