No white Christmas in the plains this year, neither for France, nor for the United States, but rather a green Christmas … or yellow, depending on the degree of drought of the vegetation. Temperatures will indeed be much higher than the seasonal averages on December 25 in many countries of the two hemispheres of the planet.
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The month of December 2021 promises to be historic at the climatic level on several continents, American and African in particular. In Europe, temperatures are less exceptional, but the day of December 25 promises to be particularly mild.
Christmas 2021 will be one of the 5 sweetest recorded in France
Between this Friday 24 and this Saturday 25 December, a depression positioned off the Atlantic will lead to the establishment of a southwest flow over France. This flow will bring mildness to the country, but also a very disturbed, windy and humid weather for New Years Eve and Christmas Day.
Bad weather will affect the whole country, with abundant snow beyond 2,000 meters only. In the plains, there is no risk of snow and no frost to fear: after the fall at the start of the week, temperatures will rebound spectacularly and will once again be well above the seasonal averages. For this December 25, 2021, Weather report France forecasts 11 ° C in Paris, 12 ° C in Aurillac, 10 ° C in Metz and 15 ° C in Nice, i.e. temperatures that are 4 ° C above the season averagesnot. If there is no record of sweetness to be expected in France, this December 25, 2021 should still be in the top 5 of the sweetest Christmases since 1947 according to Météo France (see tweet from Gaétan Heymes). The national average temperature will be between 9.8 and 10.8 ° C, knowing that the mildest Christmas recorded is that of 1997 with an average temperature of 11.7 ° C. It is also likely that Christmas Day will ultimately be the hottest day of December 2021 recorded in France.
The mild temperatures at #Christmas promises to be notable in France, after the relative cold at the start of the week.
It is even likely that this December 25 will be in the top 5 of the mildest over the period 1947-2021.
1997 11.7 ° C
2015 11.0 ° C
2012 10.8 ° C
1983 10.2 ° C
2002 10.0 ° C pic.twitter.com/TTqNt0RkQB– Gaétan Heymes (@GaetanHeymes) December 21, 2021
USA: new heat records for Christmas
December 2021 is history in the United States : since the beginning of the month, a rain of heat records falls almost daily on the country. The first days of December were indeed marked by temperatures up to 20 ° C above seasonal averages, in Montana, Wyoming, California, Texas, and throughout the central USA. After a brief cold snap, temperatures started to rise again, setting new records for December 25.
Due to the position of a strong high pressure system over the southeast and a low pressure system over the rocky mountains, theair very hot from the Gulf of Mexico is going to be pushed towards the center of the country. Recall that in 2015 and 2016, many American cities had already experienced records of heat on Christmas Day, such as Dallas, Texas which recorded 26 ° C on December 25, 2016 and New Orleans which recorded 28 ° C on December 25, 2015.
In 2021, it is possible that some of these heat records will be broken again for Christmas! For Dallas, Houston and New Orleans, the mercury will come very close to the values of 2015 and 2016, and possibly go above them. At the end of the day, the temperatures of December 25, 2021 will still exceed the seasonal averages by 10 to 15 ° C, values worthy of April. And once again, due to the wind and drought, the southern USA was placed in fire alert, in the middle of December.
Great sweetness in Africa, China and Australia
Other countries are also affected by a peak of sweetness at the end of December : the west of the African continent (Sahara, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Mali, Algeria and Tunisia) will experience temperatures 4 to 11 ° C above seasonal averages at Christmas. Temperatures will rise for example to 25 ° C in Tindouf in Algeria on Christmas Day, against an average of 14 ° C in December. In China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan, temperatures will be 3 to 8 ° C above average. The sweetness will also be present throughout the Australian continent, currently in the middle of summer. 36 ° C is forecast at Darwin on Christmas Day, 3 to 4 ° C above the December averages.
The month of December was also marked by extremely high temperatures in Australia and a maximum fire risk. In mid-December, the temperature reached 49 ° C in the Pilbara region, approaching the ultimate record of heat in Australia (50.7 ° C in January 1960).
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