France breaks its record for the longest period with temperatures above seasonal averages

Temperatures have been above average since April 11, a streak of 39 hot days that broke the 2007 record, and counting!

With 39 consecutive days marked by temperatures above seasonal averages, Meteo France indicates that metropolitan France has never experienced such a series since the beginning of the surveys weather report. The last period of heat similar (38 days) dates from April 6 to May 13, 2007, and this record has now been beaten by that of May 2022. Remember that seasonal normals are temperatures calculated from averages over a period of 30 years, this period being subject to renewal. In early 2022, WMO, the World Meteorological Organization, has also replaced the 1981-2010 reference averages with those of 1991-2020. Any deviation, upwards or downwards, of the temperatures recorded in relation to this 30-year average constitutes a anomaly thermal, hot or cold. It is now certain that this month of May 2022 will be the hottest recorded in France since the beginning of the records: the previous hottest month of May was that of 2011 with a hot anomaly of +1.8°C, in 2022 this anomaly should rise up to +3.3°C above normal.

Towards a real “blowtorch” this weekend in the south

The high heat threshold (+30°C) was reached in 32% of the territory on May 18, i.e. almost a third of the country. During the last nights from Wednesday to Friday, minimum temperatures locally reached the tropical threshold (+20°C), especially in Paris (21°C), Nice (21°C), Clermont-Ferrand (21°C) and Lyons (20.7°C). If the heat recedes significantly in the north this weekend, it will intensify over the southern half, giving rise to a “blowtorch” as the locals call it. meteorologists : 36 to 38°C could be reached in Occitania, Auvergne and around Lyon.