SIn terms of precipitation, the years follow one another and are not alike, which is not a discovery in temperate latitudes. While the year 2022, marked by heatwaves as fierce as drought, had recorded -25% rainfall compared to the norm in mainland France, 2024 is heading towards a +15% which will place it among the fifteen years the rainiest on a national scale since systematic records began in 1959. 2023 was more or less in line. This is one of the main points from the presentation of the annual climate report, carried out this December 19 by Virginie Schwarz, the boss of Météo-France.
New Aquitaine has largely taken its share of humidity. With +23% precipitation compared to normal (calculated over the period 1991-2020), it is sixth among the wettest French regions this year. The counter continues to tick since the results are provisionally finalized on December 10. The prize goes to Île-de-France, with + 43%. In the South-West, we remember that autumn 2023 had already been very wet. For example, there were floods in Saintes (Charente-Maritime) due to the vagaries of the Charente. And recurring overflows in the Arcachon basin (Gironde), with problems of pollution of the aquatic environment which have cost local oyster farming dearly.
The heat record in La-Teste-de-Buch
In this landscape, the tendency for torrential rains is the most worrying factor. It should strengthen over the years, correlated with global warming. Several areas suffered the effects, in Isère in June, in Ardèche with the most intense Cévennes episode over two days ever recorded in the department (627 mm of water) or even in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, where a A sudden flood devastated the upper Aspe valley at the beginning of September and cut off the RN 137 for months.
These cloudy vagaries were accompanied by a frequent disappearance of the sun across the country. “2024 is one of the least sunny years in 70 years,” said Virginie Schwarz. The deficit reaches 10% on average.
A sign that habits are taking hold, 2024 did not generally seem stifling to populations even though it will be among the five hottest years since measurements began in 1900. The anomaly will be around one degree of more than normal, 0.9°C for New Aquitaine. Nine of the ten hottest years in France now occur after 2010. And the 40°C mark is occasionally crossed, summer after summer. The record is this time held by Cazaux, in La-Teste-de-Buch in Gironde, with 41.3°C on August 11.
If the heat peaks are the most spectacular, one of the obvious signs of warming occurs at night, with the multiplication of very mild, even tropical nighttime temperatures, especially in urban areas where the materials of public spaces and The habitat stores the heat of the day and releases it at night.
