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WEATHER

VIDEO: Parisians take to their skis to make the most of the ‘City of White’

Heavy snowfall has hit the French capital giving Parisians the perfect excuse to don their skis and take to the city's (temporary) slopes. Quite sensible given that all other forms of transport have ground to a near halt.

Published: 7 February 2018 10:18 CET
VIDEO: Parisians take to their skis to make the most of the 'City of White'
Photo: AFP
While many have been left glum by the disruption caused by the 15cm of snow blanketing the Paris, others have decided to seize the moment. 
 
And Montmartre hill where the famous Sacre Coeur basilica perches is proving quite a draw for the city's ski enthusiasts, while others are simply practicing their skills on the streets of the capital. 
 
They managed to get in about an hour of runs in the morning on the steep slopes of the park that descends from the church before being chased off by
the police.
 
“The snow is good, a little powdery, not as great as in 2010 but 2010 was historic,” said Gilles, founder and sole member of the “Montmartre Ski Club”, bearing a sweatshirt with the club's logo and altitude — 130 metres above sea level.
 
 
Here are some of the best images. 
 
 
 

 

 

And the trend has caught on outside the city. 

 

CLIMATE CRISIS

Scorching summer was France’s second hottest on record

Three heatwaves since June produced France's second-hottest summer since records began in 1900, the Météo France weather service said on Tuesday, warning that scorching temperatures will be increasingly common as the climate crisis intensifies.

Published: 30 August 2022 18:30 CEST
Scorching summer was France's second hottest on record

With 33 days of extreme heat overall, average temperatures for June, July and August were 2.3C above normal for the period of 1991-2020.

It was surpassed only by the 2003 heatwave that caught much of France unprepared for prolonged scorching conditions, leading to nearly 15,000 heat-related deaths, mainly among the elderly.

Data is not yet available for heat-related deaths this summer, but it is likely to be significantly lower than 15,000 thanks to preventative measures taken by local and national authorities. 

Most experts attribute the rising temperatures to the climate crisis, with Météo France noting that over the past eight summers in France, six have been among the 10-hottest ever.

By 2050, “we expect that around half of summer seasons will be at comparable temperatures, if not higher,” even if greenhouse gas emissions are contained, the agency’s research director Samuel Morin said at a press conference.

The heat helped drive a series of wildfires across France this summer, in particular a huge blaze in the southwest that burned for more than a month and blackened 20,000 hectares. 

Unusually, wildfires also broke out even in the normally cooler north of the country, and in total an area five times the size of Paris burned over the summer. 

Adding to the misery was a record drought that required widespread limits on water use, with July the driest month since 1961 – many areas still have water restrictions in place.

MAP: Where in France are there water restrictions and what do they mean?

Forecasters have also warned that autumn storms around the Mediterranean – a regular event as air temperatures cool – will be unusually intense this year because of the very high summer temperatures. A storm that hit the island of Corsica in mid August claimed six lives. 

“The summer we’ve just been through is a powerful call to order,” Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Monday, laying out her priorities for an “ecological planning” programme to guide France’s efforts against climate change.

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