this graph clearly shows that 2024 was (again) too hot a year

WEATHER – According to Météo-France, 2022 was the hottest year ever recorded in France. With an average of 14.5°C, it ranked just ahead of 2023 (14.4°C). What about 2024? The average annual temperature has “fallen” to 14.0°C, Météo-France announces in a “climate assessment” published this Thursday, December 19, 2024.

But this is indeed one of the hottest years experienced by the country, since we remain here with an anomaly of + 1.0°C compared to the 1991–2020 normal. This ultimately makes it the fourth hottest year, just behind 2020 (14.1°C). During the year 2024, days hotter than normal were twice as numerous as colder days, notes Météo-France.

And this despite the fact that 2024 is among “the ten rainiest years nationwide” (+15% compared to normal); was marked “by numerous bad weather and episodes of intense precipitation, leading to repeated floods and floods” ; or “experienced a remarkable lack of sunshine” (-10% compared to normal).

The graph below shows only episodes of exceptional mild weather, such as for a month in the heart of winter (January 23-February 22), several times in spring or fall (October 15 to 27), as well as two heat waves between July 29 and August 13, contributed to raising the average temperature in France, which was not sufficiently compensated by the exceptionally colder periods.

2024 expected to be hottest year in the world

Météo-France recalls that 25°C was exceeded in the majority of the country between the beginning and mid-April. Or that throughout the summer, the southeast, and more particularly the Mediterranean rim, experienced lasting heat, including very high nighttime temperatures.

Furthermore, to give an order of comparison with this average temperature of 14.0°C this year, Météo-France indicates what it would be in the scenario of a France at +2.7°C by 2050 : 14.3°C. And in a France at +4°C by 2100, it would rise to 15.6°C. For another comparative order, the average annual temperature in France rarely exceeded 12°C between 1900 and 1940, and was around 13°C between 1990 and 2010.

Finally, 2024 will almost certainly be the hottest year on record on a planetary scale, according to the European Copernicus observatory, notes Météo-France in its annual report. Already, the year 2023 had the hottest ever recorded on Earth with 14.98°C on average – according to Copernicus -, or 1.48°C more than the pre-industrial level of 1850-1900.

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