It is through a press release “Limoges weather station: the end of the day” that Michel Galliot, “former director of the Limoges weather center and president of the Limoges meteorological association”, wanted, this Monday, December 2 morning, to alert the end of the Météo-France building located on the Limoges-Bellegarde airport site, on the right when arriving at the terminal.
But it was a question of evoking, with nostalgia as evidenced by the whole story of the weather in Limoges which punctuates the text, the closure of the building and not the departure of Météo-France in Limoges.
We had, in fact, written at the beginning of the first article published on our website: “the weather station located near Limoges airport has just ceased its activity”.
However, when contacted, Météo-France services corrected, through the voice of Laurent Perron, southwest interregional director: “It is a move and not a closure that is planned soon. Our three colleagues from Limoges-Bellegarde continue to work in the Météo-France premises and will soon move to the neighboring Civil Aviation building where they will continue their current activities. Weather observations are always made at the same location. »
Premises “much too big” since the reorganization
And he explains: “Our current building was sized for our former organization into departmental meteorology centers which provided local forecasts during the day, supplies of climatological products and relations with the department prefecture. But since the 2022 public action reform, these Bellegarde premises have become much too large for the three meteorologists who continue to work there for regional or national Météo-France services. We have to move to office space suitable for three people. »
Laurent Perron assures that “this move has no consequences for the quality and continuity of the measurements which have remained in the same place since 1973”: “Night forecasting and meteorological vigilance, as has always been the case, are carried out by forecasters from Mérignac (Gironde). The day forecast and responses to climatological requests are now made by consulting meteorologists from one of our 13 Météo-France sites in the south-west. We maintain an automatic weather measurement station in Limoges-Bellegarde, a measurement station which is regularly maintained by our colleagues from the southwest maintenance services. And above all, we maintain a territorial referent working in Limoges who ensures our presence with institutions in Limousin, Dordogne and Poitou. »
France
