French Riviera: Too hot for canicule?

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Pfew, even under the shade of a yellow beach umbrella, it's chaud chaud chaud on the French Riviera.

In fact, the news du jour in France this week is whether or not we have a canicule (heat wave) on our hands in some parts of France.

Whatever we call this weather, it's simply HOT here on the French Riviera. In Menton, we had 33°C, in Nice, 32°C; inland such as in Carros in the Alpes-Maritimes and in Draguignan it's a couple of degrees warmer with zero chance of cooling off in the sea. We can't complain too loudly as we're not the hottest. Today, Avignon is in the oven at 38°C.

It's hot but then again this is August on the French Riviera. As we talked about before here in our post about average temperatures on the French Riviera, August is the hottest month on the Cote d'Azur.

How does it look for the rest of August? Meteo France gives us a clear picture for at least the rest of the week. It's going to be a tad cooler on the Côte d'Azur, but still warm beach weather.

For me, hiking is off until September. I can't get enough of a group for an early morning hike on the count of late summer nights.

Instead of hiking, there's swimming. The sea helps to cool off with waters around 27°C. Lots of folks head for the mountains to escape the heat. The Gorges du Verdon are full right now.

Be aware that storms come quickly in the pre-Alps. In the upper Vésubie (Saint-Martin-Vésubie), a flash storm can pour down without warning under this kind of weather. They come down fast and very heavy. If you're planning to hike in that region of the Mercantour, please check weather conditions.

Stay cool!