If the year 2024 in France was one of the hottest ever measured, it was also one of the rainiest, with annual records broken in several cities in the northern half of the country, according to the updated report from Météo- France published Tuesday January 7.
“Some cities had never experienced so much rain in a year since measurements began, such as Paris (901.1 mm of precipitation), Melun (994.9 mm), Blois (905.6 mm), Le Mans (960.9 mm) or Saint-Nazaire (Loire-Atlantique, 1,106.1 mm) »details Météo-France.
In the capital, precipitation measurements from the historic Montsouris park station date back to 1873 and the previous record dated from the year 2000. Less old, the other stations cited were opened in 1945 for Le Mans, 1957 for Saint-Nazaire or 1990 for Blois.
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These records are part of a year “marked by numerous bad weather and episodes of intense precipitation”recalls Météo-France. “With more than 1,075 mm on average across the country, an excess of +15%, 2024 should be the seventh rainiest year since 1959”concludes the observatory. Corsica is the only region to experience a rainfall deficit over the year.
Full of water, “the soils remained wetter than normal for eight months, unheard of in more than thirty years”with serious consequences for agriculture, also notes the results.
Uncertain evolution
These figures do not necessarily indicate a trend for the future because, according to climate projections for France, “Precipitation will remain very variable and its long-term evolution, on a national scale, is very uncertain”. Météo-France, however, expects “an increase in precipitation in winter and a decrease in summer”i.e. an unfavorable annual distribution for agriculture or flood prevention.
The year 2024 also goes down in history due to extraordinary heat, for the third year in a row: the national average temperature was 13.9°C in 2024, which ranks fourth. of the hottest years since national measurements began in 1900. The year 2024 is only preceded in France by the record year of 2022 (14.5 °C), almost equaled in 2023, and by 2020. “A sign of climate change, nine of the ten hottest years in France occurred after 2010”recalls Météo-France.
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But the temperatures of 2024, a record year globally, are not expected to remain exceptional for long: Météo-France expects them to be exceeded in the country “more than one year in two” by 2050, taking into account the current trajectory of humanity's greenhouse gas emissions.
