PalQ

Canacule - today's high in Paris is supposed to be 64 and also rainy - Canicule??

PalQ

Brussels tomorrow: Hi 60, low 45, rain. Canaicule continues!

PalQ

Before ridicule, it's "canicule" i believe.

MyriamC

Let's talk again next week! It's supposed to be over 30C again as from Wednesday ...

PalQ

Paris - today hi 68 low 54. Canicule? Miriam i see the next few days it will be heating up - tomorrow Paris hi 73 low 55 and rain - canicule?Where i live the average high for today is 83 degrees - a canicule by European standards. But the summer is just starting - i'm not dismissing canicule but i think the British high street bookies would have heavy odds against it, based on reality.
Just for fun i'll keep this Canicule log going, and eat crow by reporting torrid temps too!
(Just having fun!)

Christina

I was in Paris last week and it was pretty hot then a couple of days, and from reading the French papers before that (when I was in Provence), it was extremely hot in Paris towards the end of June. So there was a lot written about the heat wave at that time and perhaps that is what you have heard about. It was even hotter down south where I was.

PalQ

Yes that's what i heard about. My understanding of a <Canicule> may be wrong but my understanding is that a Canicule is like 2003 - one lasting all summer, and that is what i'm casting doubt on - ten days of hot weather doesn't make a canicule - or maybe it does. I may have the meaning of the word wrong. It could be the beginning of a canicule, or not.

PalQ

Je suis trompe - my ex wife, une francaise, a dit que le canicule peut etre jusqu'a un peu de jours - so i'm wrong canicul is not a summer long phenomenon - Christina was right on last week was a canicule. C'aillez!

MyriamC

PalQ,
Ton ex-épouse a raison!
La canicule doesn't necessarily have to last a whole season. A few days of extreme heat is enough. In Belgium where I live we call it "hondsdagen", translated in English as dogs days. Usually canicule is between July 20th and August 20th, take or leave a few days. This year the canicule was much earlier than usual with temps of over 30C from June 18th until 29th.

PalQ

C'est tres interessant - Brussels gets less canicules than France the farther south you go? I led bike trips thru Belge for 10 years and unfortunately there was never a canicule, quite the opposite, a coldicule - rainy and quite cool even in July. One year around 1984 we had 35 straight days of rain (Belgium, Holland, Germany and northern France) so canicules in Belge must be recent phenomenon - global warming, which means in long run for northern Europe freezing as gulf stream patterns become disrupted - northern Europe losing its warming (and rain) effects. Ski resorts in the Ardennes - a thing of the future? That's why they call it Belgian Switzerland?

MyriamC

The ski resorts in the Ardennes are no longer a thing of the future. This Feb/March they have been skiing 30 days in a row!
The last 10 years we have (short) periods of extreme heat in Belgium almost every summer. Not what I would call nice summer days but really oppressive heat. It must be the global warming.

AnthonyGA

Most of Europe is getting hotter each year, especially France. Enjoy the cool weather while you can, as there will be less and less of it in the future. I'll take 64 over 110 any day.

MyriamC

<<I'll take 64 over 110 any day.>>
Oh yes, me too, Anthony! But with a little less rain if possible ... We've had too much of it this last week.

kappa

I'm sorry PalQ but you are still writing "C'aillez" for "Ca y est". In case you have not realized.

MyriamC

I'm glad you clarified, kappa. Really didn't understand what was meant by C'aillez. :-?

PatrickLondon

And I don't think there's an emoticon (though there should be) for the shrug of the shoulders with hands outstretched and the kind of 'bof' sound that the French would otherwise use in the same context..!