The year was very intense in bad weather, with record flooding in several departments and destructive storms. Despite very little sunshine and high temperatures, there is good news to report: the water tables have been filled.
Blendecques, Hazebrouck, Steenbecque… In Pas-de-Calais in recent months, many municipalities have been placed in a state of natural disaster – more than 360. At the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024, Torrential rains fell there, causing the flooding of many rivers. The violence of the precipitation, coupled with the waterlogging of the soil, which is too heavy due to successive episodes, has pushed the inhabitants of the department into “chronic fear” and constant risk.
Tens of thousands of homes were devastated, thousands of families affected, hundreds of lives shattered by the floods caused. On the other side of the territory, more than 1,100 kilometers away, in the Alpes-Maritimes, in Nice, Cannes, Pégomas, same scenario. In Alsace, in the Rhône, in Ardèche, in Seine-et-Marne and elsewhere, too.
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In France, there have never been as many floods as in 2024. Listening to the weather experts, their impact and their pace – close in time – were “unprecedented”. If the year was particularly rainy, it was especially intense in terms of “all weather phenomena”, insists Paul Marquis, meteorological expert and founder of E-Meteo Service. He admits, the year has not been easy. “As an independent meteorologist, I didn’t stop, there was no disappointment and everything flowed, without a real break of one or two months (between events, Editor’s note) like in previous years” .
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2024 in the top 10 wettest years since 1900
In France, when it comes time to take stock, everyone agrees – and you don’t need to be an expert – to say it: the rain was omnipresent. Rainfall records also prove it. “The 30 largest monitoring stations in France recorded between 15 and 20% more precipitation this year,” explains the meteorologist.
In several departments, certain figures are crazy. In Ardèche for example, a renowned amateur station recorded 3,800 millimeters – one millimeter represents one liter of water per square meter – of precipitation over the year 2024. “The department has experienced numerous Cévennes and Mediterranean episodes which have caused these accumulations of rain, worthy of tropical accumulations,” notes Paul Marquis.
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In Loire-Atlantique, 1,100 millimeters of precipitation fell this year, marking an increase of almost 24% compared to 2023. More precisely, in Nice, the stations recorded 1,017 millimeters over the year. “It’s huge, it represents 30% more than in 2023,” breathes the expert. To see such a level of rain in the capital of the Alpes-Maritimes, you have to go back to 2014.
In Paris, the year 2024 also marks a record. With 900.9 millimeters of precipitation, the capital beat the totals recorded in 2000: 900.8. “We saw it clearly this year, it rained a lot in Paris. During the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, the reopening of Notre-Dame more recently…”, says Paul Marquis.
In France, only two departments are in the red in terms of cumulative rainfall: Aude and the Pyrénées-Orientales. In Perpignan, the stations recorded a 10% deficit in precipitation. According to the weather expert, the rain will stop in the coming weeks. But he still wants to dampen the little growing hope. “It will start again later”…
What about groundwater?
Although these heavy rainfalls have caused numerous disasters, they are nonetheless good news for groundwater. In 2022, France was hit hard by an unprecedented drought – the worst since the start of analyzes in 1959 -. 35% of the country’s soils were in a state of drought, leading to the thinning of certain waterways and harming the fauna and flora.
Two years later, these same soils heave a sigh of relief. With the torrential rains, the water tables have been restored to health. Just look at the map and graphs put online by the Geological and Mining Research Bureau (BRGM) to take the pulse.
The graph showing the rate of groundwater filling in 2024.
© Geological and Mining Research Bureau
From last January to March, they actively reloaded with increases ranging from 45 to more than 65%. “The water tables fill up from September to March, where everything that falls will be absorbed,” specifies Paul Marquis. From April onwards, and on sunny days, this is less the case, since they are absorbed “90%” by the plants.
If last September, active charging was not very prolific – 25% – it literally exploded in October. The BRGM recorded an increase of 71% over that month, before it fell, reaching 46%, in November.
The map of the state of water tables, particularly red in 2022 – materializing a very low level – is very blue this year. In Marne, Loire-Atlantique and even central France, the level of French water tables is very high.
The map of the state of groundwater in France in 2024.
© Geological and Mining Research Bureau
The other parts of the country are also in very good positions. Except once again two departments: the Eastern Pyrenees and Aude. In the first, the levels are “very low”. In the second, they are “low”.
However, in France, “we are no longer going to talk about drought. For 6 months, we are calm, even if we have less rain, we will not necessarily have drought,” specifies the weather expert once again.
One of the least sunny years
Those who have seen the heavy rainfall will also have noticed: the sun has been discreet – very discreet, too discreet – this year. With 10% less average sunshine, 2024 is one of the record years in France. “Only the months of January and August are within the norm,” breathes Paul Marquis. “The other 10 months were not very sunny.”
In Paris, the month of November was particularly gray: less than 10 hours of sunshine in the space of a short month. Rennes and its department of Île et Vilaine, 25 minutes. Same sadness in the capital of the Côte-d’Or, in Dijon, with barely two hours of sunshine.
Paul Marquis, who has extensively studied the weather over the last 40 years in France, sees it as “a recurrence”. “In 1994, 1995 and 1996, we had the same situation with years with little sunshine. Previous years, on the other hand, had been very dry and hot,” specifies the expert. “The years 2021, 2022 and 2023 were also very dry and hot,” he adds.
So, if we follow logic, what will happen in the next two years? “The trend for 2025 shows a pattern that is not necessarily hot and sunny,” relates the meteorologist. Looking forward to 2026…
One of the hottest years in history
Finally, the assessment provided for 2024 concludes with a new record, that of temperatures. “They were above seasonal averages and the year is one of the five hottest recorded since 1900,” says Paul Marquis.
With a provisional average temperature of 14°C – measurements not yet completed – the thermometer showed one degree higher than the season averages. But disparities exist between the north and the south of the country in terms of heat.
The year that has just passed is therefore quite unprecedented in terms of rainfall, especially in terms of bad weather with floods, destructive storms and severe frosts. “We really feel the impact of global warming,” insists Paul Marquis. And according to the expert, years like these should be repeated.
