Since the end of September, rain has once again been a regular feature of the Catalan landscape.
The phenomenon is rare enough to be highlighted but, this Sunday, November 10, will have marked a (small) break since it was the first time, in 18 daysthat it was not raining in Perpignan. While the department has been experiencing a drought as intense as it is lasting for three years, these days of rain have almost been greeted with curiosity.
In total, since mid-September, Perpignan has only experienced around twenty days without rain. And during these few weeks, there will be as much rain in the capital of Roussillon as during an entire year of drought.
One day almost takes stock of the year
So he fell 256,1 mm of precipitation in recent weeks in Perpignan when the total of the year was stuck at 220.2 mm en 2023 and to 298.4 mm in 2022. A sudden increase in the level of precipitation which is largely due to the single day of October 28 when it fell 152 mm of rain in 24 hours. In Perpignan, you had to go back to October 22, 2019 to see more than 100 mm of rain in 24 hours (106).
Not the end of the drought yet
In total, the year 2024 now accumulates 475 mm of rain in just over 10 months. This is a clear improvement in the situation but does not mark the end of the drought since the department remains in deficit of 11% compared to normal precipitation values in a year. Not to mention that a few weeks are not enough to recharge water tables damaged by two and a half years of extreme drought.
This 475 mm of precipitation also exceeds the 407 mm of the year 2021marked by the beginnings of drought, with a very dry autumn. As a reminder, during the last relatively normal year in Perpignan, he fell, 627 mm of rain in 2020.
