Climate: the list of records this summer continues to grow

the global warming is working. Its effects are beginning to be felt. Almost everywhere on the planet. In a particularly severe way in this summer of 2022 which is only halfway through and has already seen a lot of records fall. And this, despite the refreshing influence of a persistent La Niña phenomenon.

Scorching heat in France

This month of June — the first month of the so-calledmeteorological summer — ranks first as hottest June on record land emerged. With an average temperature of +1.8°C above pre-industrial norms. France also experienced at that time a vague of heat early. Earliest ever recorded.

L’anomaly — understand the temperature difference from normal — reached +8.86°C. And on June 18, the national thermal indicator rose to 27.38°C. It had never been so hot so early in the season in France.

Absolute temperature records have been broken. In Biarritz (64), for example, it was 42.9°C on the same June 18. The old record dated August 4, 2003. It was then 40.6°C. Many monthly records were also broken, in Carcassonne (11), Niort (79), Dinard (35) or even Cognac (16) where it was 40.0°C against 38.2°C in June 1952.

Absolute records were also broken for temperatures nocturnal. In Villefranche (69), it was an incredible 27°C. The old record dated from July 2015 and was not ” that “ 23.8°C.

In July, rebelote. A news heat wave swept over France. Nationally, it was not the longest, nor the most intense, nor the most severe. But at the local level, its duration has sometimes been exceptional. In Hérault, for example, it lasted 22 days. Another record!

Absolute temperature records were once again broken. Like in Brest (29) where it was 39.3°C on July 18. The old record dated August 9, 2003. It had been 35.1 ° C in Boulogne-sur-Mer (62), it was on July 19 that it was 39.6 ° C. While the old local record was 37.9°C. It was only dated July 2020.

A third heat wave began on July 31. His report is not yet available. But already, considering only the first two heat waves of the meteorological summer — from 1^er June to August 31 –, Weather report France counts 19 days of heat. The records being held by 1983, with 23 days of heat wave, 2003 with 22 days and 2006 with 21 days.

According to Meteo France “the heat waves recorded since 1947 on a national scale have been significantly more numerous in recent decades”. They have been three times more numerous over the last 35 years than over the previous 35 years. And the number of days of heat waves has been multiplied by 9.

Assessment, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, in particular this month of July appears as the hottest ever recorded. And for some stations, it will even have been the hottest summer month. As in Salon-de-Provence (13) or Istres (13).

A fourth heat wave is currently underway…

France on the dry

And it’s not just the temperature side that records have been set — or are about to be. According to Météo France, July 2022 was quite simply the driest month since 1959.

Over the whole country, the rainfall deficit was about 84%. A deficit that comes after an already very dry spring. And which combines with high heat to dry out our soils. Since July 17, moreover, France has been setting a new record every day in the matter. This was already the case since the beginning of July in Corsica. Since mid-May, even, in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.

As a result, at the beginning of August, soils are drier than they were in 1976 and 2003. And the situation could worsen in the days to come. With Météo France experts expecting the absolute record of soil drought superficial which dates from 2003 is beaten.

The whole world disrupted by climate change

France is not the only one affected by this extreme situation. By June, 50 weather stations around the world had broken a record. It thus made 44.4 ° C in New Mexico (United States), up to 44.2 ° C in China and 47.8 ° C in Iran.

In this month of July, several all-time temperature records were beaten in Europe. 47.0°C in Pinhao (Portugal) and 45.4°C in Cadeleda (Spain) and 40.1°C in Hamburg (Germany). For the first time, the 40°C mark has been crossed in the United Kingdom with a record 40.3°C recorded in Coningsby. With a month of July, there too, which ends at the top of the driest July months since 1935.

Belgium, for example, also recorded its driest July. And in the Netherlands, it rained on average, during that same month, 23 millimeters. For a normal located at… 78 millimeters!

On the other side of the Atlantic, the situation is the same. With also night temperatures reaching peaks. Nearly 28°C in Iowa, this August 3, 2022. 28°C… at night!

In Hong Kong, the temperature for the month of July stopped at +1.4°C above normal. Making this month the hottest on record. With some precipitation around 160 millimeters for a normal rather around 385 millimeters.

In Japan too, records have been broken. An absolute record of 36.5°C, still on August 3, 2002, at Inatori. But already in June, Tokyo had experienced its most extreme heat wave on record with nine days above 35°C. And it is torrential rains, this time, which very recently fell on certain northern regions and South Korea. More than 500 millimeters in 24 hours over part of Niigata prefecture. Some 500,000 people have been called to evacuate.

New Zealand had its wettest July on record. With 266 millimeters of precipitation — as of July 28. Knowing that since 1864 and the beginning of the records, out of some 1,739 months, only 15 have exceeded 200 millimeters of rain. In Christchurch, 43% of the total annual rainfall fell in a single month!

On the Australian side, it is thewinter right now. But last summer also had its share of records. With the country’s heat record equaled at 50.7°C. And while days above 50°C remain rare, researchers report that they have doubled since the 1980s.

In question, an anthropogenic climate change carrying extremes. As scientists announced more than 40 years ago. A little more even. Because this summer seems to want to challenge the climate models. Two years ago, a study estimated ” unlikely “ that the 40°C mark could be crossed in the United Kingdom before 2030… Proof, for researchers, that there are still parameters – such as land use orirrigation — which influence heat waves in particular and which the models do not yet integrate sufficiently.

A study shows, however, that the global warming makes the heat wave that hit Europe in July at least 10 times more likely. And that it added to it — on the UK side, anyway — no less than 4°C! Global warming also seems to make heat waves more and more earlier. The one that affected India in March 2022 is a striking example. This type of extreme event becomes 30 times more likely with the current change. As to simultaneous heat waves in different regions of the Globe, they seem to have become 6 times more frequent in thenorthern hemisphere between 1979 and 2019. The records have not finished falling…