“Overcast skies over Touraine”, “don’t wait to see the sun”, “when will it clear up?”. These sentences have been rehashed on France Bleu Touraine for almost two weeks. It must be said that the days follow one another and are similar with a low sky and an absent sun. This impression is confirmed in Météo France data. Between November 1 and 8, the Parcay-Meslay weather station recorded only 1 hour and 20 minutes of sunshine on Tuesday, November 5. The other days, not a single ray of sunlight peeked through.
“We have an anticyclone in northern Central Europe, explains Olivier Renard, president of Météo Centre. And as long as this anticyclone does not move a little more, to the north, to the east, to the south, to stir up the air a little, the conditions will not change.
November, in line with October, one of the worst months of the 21st century for sunshine
According to the history of Météo France readings, the level of sunshine is one of the lowest in the 21st century. And worse, the weather phenomenon began the last week of October, with only 1 hour 20 minutes of sunshine accumulated between October 25 and October 31.
- October 25: 20 minutes of sunshine during the day
- October 26: no sunshine
- October 27: an hour of sunshine
- October 28: no sunshine
- October 29: no sunshine
- October 30: no sunshine
- October 31: no sunshine
With 84 hours of sunshine last month, October 2024 was one of the worst Octobers in the 21st century (beaten only by 2020, 2000, 2019, 2006). On the other hand, it was much hotter than usual, 1.2 degrees warmer than the average temperature for the month of October, and very humid with 96% more rain.
loading
Will November 2024 go down as one of the worst months of sunshine in history? It's still too early obviously. On average, we have 78 hours of sunshine in November in Indre-et-Loire. The month of November 2020 was the sunniest in the 21st century at Parcay-Meslay station with 130.6 hours, the worst in 2010 with 37.1 hours.
More broadly, 2024 is a year marked by a significant shortage of sunshine. January was normal. All other months thereafter, until July, were below seasonal norms. August was 10% above normal. And since then, “we are very clearly below” specifies Olivier Renard, president of Météo Centre.
