32.6°C in Puy-de-Dôme, 34.0°C in Haute-Loire, 31.4°C in Grenoble (Isère), 34.4°C in Albi (Tarn)… temperatures for the month of May have multiplied in France, especially last week. In Lyon, for example, more than 30°C were recorded from May 17 to 22, six consecutive days. An unprecedented observation, underlines Meteo France in a bulletin published Monday, May 23. “This is an episode of exceptional heat by its precocity, its duration and its geographical extent”, specifies the institute.
The hottest month of May
The country is experiencing unusual spring heat. “This month of May will be the hottest in France since the start of the measurements, with an average temperature higher than normal estimated at +3 degrees, warns Météo France. May 2022 will thus rank far ahead of the month of May 2011, today. hui in 1st place with an average temperature +1.9 degrees above normal”.
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40 consecutive days above normal
With 40 consecutive days above seasonal norms, according to a report dating from Saturday May 20, a record for a hot period was broken in France in the spring. This series began on April 11 and ended on May 25. The previous record – 38 days – was recorded between the months of April and May 2007. If the temperatures had come down, the trend has, for two days, started to rise again, according to data from Météo France.
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An early drought
These abnormal temperatures are accompanied by a lack of rain over a large part of the territory. Already, during the month of April, the observation of a drought in France became alarming. “The deficit has often exceeded 25% from the Belgian border to the Mediterranean, near the Channel, on the Atlantic coast, south of the Garonne and on the western coast of Corse-du-Sud, specifies Meteo France. It reached 50 to 75% in places.”
Spring is, on the whole, particularly dry. Summer isn’t looking any better. According to a map published by the government on May 19, 22 departments appear in red, that is to say with a “very probable” risk of drought by the end of the summer, mainly in the South-East. and the West. Dozens of other departments are in the “likely” risk category.
This card “shows that the summer of 2022 could be marked by low water levels or marked drops in the water table over the entire territory”, according to the Hydrological Anticipation and Monitoring Committee (CASH), charged by the National Water Committee to follow the state of water resources, quoted by the government.
The drought risk map on the national territory next summer, published by the Ministry of Ecological Transition on May 18, 2022.
Ministry of Ecological Transition
The map takes into account the drop in levels of rivers and lakes, rainfall and, above all, the current state of groundwater and soil moisture. As a result, water restriction orders are increasing in the country. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne was also on the move on Thursday to a drought-affected farm in Loiret. She assured that her government was “determined to act to prevent the situation from deteriorating” and that it was going to “support farmers financially”. “We are taking measures to manage water resources and prevent the situation from becoming unmanageable this summer,” she said.
With climate change, “heat periods are set to become more frequent and tend to set in earlier in the spring than before”, warns Météo France. The peaks are observed not only at the hottest time of the day, but also at the lowest.