Many still have in mind the 2003 heat wave or, more recently, this scorching summer where the mercury climbed to 42.6°C. That was on July 25, 2019. In July 2022, temperatures also rose high, as it was 40.5°C in the capital. This was then the second highest temperature ever recorded in Paris, after the 2019 record.
Unfortunately, things are not going to get any better. Due to global warming, the heat is likely to intensify even more over the years, affecting a little more the agglomerations where the air often becomes unbreathable.
The publication of a study by The Lancet Planet Health, relayed by our colleagues at Le Point, could push Parisians even further to go green in the years to come. According to the study, which compared major cities according to their excess mortality rates during periods of extreme temperatures (cold and hot), Paris is the deadliest European city in the event of a heat wave.
In total, the situation of 854 cities and urban areas, spread over 30 countries in Europe, was closely analyzed between January 1, 2000 and December 12, 2019. According to this study, cold weather now causes more deaths than heat. Thus, over this 20-year period, freezing temperatures are responsible for the death of 203,620 people per year on average in these 30 European countries. Heat waves have caused the death of 20,173 people on average per year.
But with climate change, these figures could change. And in the event of a heat wave, Paris is the first city in Europe where the risk of dying from heat is the highest. " The city with the highest relative risk of heat-related death is Paris," says the study, published in The Lancet Planet Health.
According to Pierre Masselot, lead author of the study and researcher at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, who spoke to 20 Minutes, " the lack of vegetation and also the color of tar or materials " very dark accentuate this risk in large cities.
Faced with this situation, the capital would work on a"Plan Grand Chaud", according to BFM Paris, on the model of the Plan Grand Froid, already existing.
As indicated by the City of Paris on its website, these episodes of heat wave are likely to be repeated more and more regularly in the capital in the years to come. According to experts from Météo France, " there will be between 10 and 25 heat waves per year instead of one on average ". Moreover, " average temperatures could rise by +2°C to +4°C " warns the Paris Climate Agency. The City of Paris is therefore keen to be prepared and will launch a crisis exercise this autumn entitled"Paris 50°".
