The drought is already here in Provence, two months ahead of schedule

This Wednesday, April 20, 9 departments are placed in drought alert. On a national scale, it is the driest start to the year for 10 years, and the situation is particularly worrying in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region: it is there the start of driest year since 1959, at least, the archives of Meteo France concerning the drought not going back further. There has been an accumulation of 64 mm in the Provence-Alpes Côte d’Azur region since the beginning of January, while the average is usually around 200 mm over the same period. In the Bouches-du-Rhône and the Alpes-Maritimes, the State has decreed a reduction in withdrawals for agricultural purposes, measures prohibiting the operation of valves, nautical activity, but also a ban at certain hours of watering gardens and green spaces.

Endless weather blocking situations in the southeast

At the meteorological level, the first four months of 2022 were marked by a series of dry anticyclonic situations, real repetitive and long-lasting “weather blockages”. The southeast of the country remained protected from the rains by high pressures. And despite the beneficial rains that are falling these days (which add 10 to 20 mm in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur), no improvement is expected for the next 10 days. Weather report France specifies that for the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, the soil humidity index corresponds to that which is usually noted at the end of June! Either an advance of at least two months on the state of drought soils, a very worrying factor as the fire season approaches.