Spring has recorded a 45 % precipitation deficit compared to normal, classifying it in third row of the driest spring. He also ranked third hottest spring.
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No respite in sight. After an exceptionally hot spring and a record month, France must now expect a summer as hotter and drier than normal. The risk of strong drought and forest fires is high. This is what emerges from the record of the last three months and seasonal trends for the next three presented by Météo-France Friday June 3.
The month of May was placed as the warmest ever recorded in the country, dethroning May 2011 of more than one degree. “It has reached an unprecedented average temperature: 17.8 ° C, the values of a hot June,” specifies Jean-Michel Soubeyroux, Deputy Director of Climatology at Météo-France.
France has known in particular an episode of heat “exceptionally early, durable and intense” between May 15 and 22. Of the 135 measurement stations of the main Météo-France network, 25 maximum temperature records for a month of May were beaten, especially in the Massif Central, in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes or in Corsica. Mercury thus reached 36.2 ° C in Ajaccio, 35.4 ° C in Albi, 32.4 ° C in Mende or 32 ° C in Aurillac. These temperatures could be greater than 10 ° C at seasonal normal (1981-2010), with a maximum of + 14.4 ° C anomaly on May 22 at Mount Aigoual in the Cévennes.
40 records fell 2>
In addition, 40 records fell for minimum temperatures, from Aquitaine to the east of the country, with Ile-de-France and Hauts-de-France. Météo-France recorded 23.5 ° C in Nice, 20.7 ° C in Lyon or 20 ° C in Bordeaux, “tropical nights of full summer”, specifies Jean-Michel Soubeyroux. In the end, spring recorded forty-four days in a row above normal, again, a record for this season.
Beyond being very hot, May was also very dry. With a deficit rainfall of 65 % on average on the country, it surpasses May 1989 and May 2011 (which had recorded a deficit of 55 %). The cumulative rain was less than 20 mm on a large part of the territory (a deficit of 80 %), with minimums at 5 mm, as in Toulouse.
The month of May has strongly weighed in the spring of spring. The months of March, April and May rank third in the hottest spring since 1900, behind 2020 and 2011. “The three hottest springs intervened in the last decade, a sign of global warming”, observes Jean -Michel Soubeyroux.
The spring 2022 is also the driest third ever recorded, behind 2011 and 1976, the year of historic drought. Almost the entire territory has been affected by a dryness of the soil that is normally only encountered once a decade in this season, or even less. The level at 1 er June is usually met in mid-July. “The early drought of superficial soils, linked to the persistent precipitation deficit, has been accentuated by higher temperatures than normal,” said Météo-France. And the situation could worsen.
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