Sharjah24 - AFP: France was bracing Monday for the peak of the heatwave gripping the country, with crushing temperatures expected from the Mediterranean as far up as Brittany in the northwest.
Forecasters have put 15 departments across the country on the highest state of alert for extreme temperatures, including Gironde in the southwest where forest fires have already wrought havoc.
In the Landes forest, in the southwest Aquitaine region, temperatures "will be above 42 degrees Celsius" (107 Fahrenheit) said forecaster Olivier Proust.
And Brittany, which until recently has escaped the worst of the heat, could register temperatures as high as 40 degrees Celsius, (104 Fahrenheit), say experts, which would be a record for the region.
The increasing number of extreme weather events is the direct consequence of global warming, as greenhouse gases increase their intensity, length and frequency, say scientists.
The intense heatwave has already caused multiple forest fires in France and elsewhere, and some farmers have taken to working at night to minimise the risk of a spark from their harvesting equipment starting a fire that destroys their crops.
By late Sunday, the fires in Gironde, which have been raging since Tuesday, had already destroyed 13,000 hectares (32,000 acres), driven by high winds and forcing the evacuation of 16,200 holidaymakers, fire service officials said.
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