As water, water everywhere ! Like the fall and winter of 2023, with its record rainfall and the devastation that resulted from it, the spring of 2024 is distinguished by exceptional rainfall accumulations, with fortunately less catastrophic consequences.
Let us judge: at the Lille-Lesquin weather station, April still displays a cumulative 62.7 mm (+ 38% compared to monthly normals) and this after a month of February and a month of March respectively at + 99% and + 85% compared to the standard! Still inland, in Cambrai, the cumulative precipitation for April reached 75.9 mm (+ 78%), after + 37% and + 74% in February and March.
The coastline is not immune to the phenomenon: the cumulative precipitation in Dunkirk in April is 70.7 mm (+ 93% compared to normal), making it the second wettest month of April since 2001 ( after 2023). In February and March, the reference values were still significantly exceeded (+141% and +48%!). In the Le Touquet weather station, the 60.1 mm of rain that fell last month was still 20% above normal. April 2024 is here in the top 4 of the wettest Aprils for 50 years.
Temperatures also outside the norm
We could spontaneously say that April was chilly. A trompe-l’oeil impression, probably favored by the feeling generated by the ambient humidity. In truth, the temperature averages once again exceed the standards: the average temperature was thus established in Lille at 11.5 ºC over the month, compared to 9.8 ºC for the monthly average values.
In Le Touquet, it was 10.7 ºC compared to 9.4 ºC for the norm, in Dunkirk 11.5 ºC compared to 9.7 ºC, in Cambrai 11.3 ºC compared to 9.4 ºC. In short, each time around 1.5 ºC more than normal. Global warming is once again at work here.
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