With 180,000 lightning strikes recorded in France since the beginning of the month, June 2022 has just broken the record for monthly lightning strikes since records began in 1989. And it’s not over, since the next few days promise to be very stormy again!
This month of June 2022 has been marked by conditions weather report extremes throughout the month: a early and intense heat wavebut also thunderstorms almost daily. These storms not only generated giant hailstonesbursts of wind stormy, precipitation diluvian, but also a strong electrical activity. From 1er as of June 23, the organization Weatherstorm (subsidiary of Météo France which counts lightning strikes in the world) recorded nearly 180,000 cloud to ground lightning. This is a monthly record, for the month of June, ahead of that of 1993 (172,608 cloud-to-ground flashes).
22 days of thunderstorms out of 23 since the beginning of the month
It should be noted that there are several types of lightning : intra-cloud lightning (horizontal lightning in the clouds that does not reach the ground) and cloud-to-ground lightning which impacts our land and towns with possible damage. Of the first 23 days of June, 22 were stormy, knowing that the monthly average is 27 days of storms in June.
The most stricken day of this month of June 2022 was that of June 4, marked by large-scale stormy degradation : various supercells had crossed France generating hailstones 8 cm in diameter on Puy-de-Dôme, Allier and Creuse, gusts of wind at over 100 km/h in the Centre, and torrential rains in Normandy and in Brittany causing the death of a woman in Rouen. The electrical activity had been intense with 41,029 lightning strikes making this day the most struck down in nearly 3 years and the third most struck down day in June since 1989. This day of June 4, 2022 is also the 5e most stricken day, all months combined, for 35 years. Despite these impressive figures, this day did not reach the monthly record of June 19, 2013 with 44,340 cloud-to-ground lightning.
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, the stormiest region of June 2022
Since the beginning of the month, the most struck region has been Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, followed by Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Allier, Charente and Corrèze have so far been the worst hit departments. For all three regions, June 2022 is a record month for lightning.
What is the city that rises to the top of the ranking of the most struck towns in France in June? It is Chardonnay in Saône-et-Loire, Burgundy-Franche-Comté region. This small town of 200 inhabitants has been hit multiple times by violent storms during this month, with destructive giant hailstones.
Towards a stormy month of June that will smash the records
Météo France and Météorage specify that all the conditions necessary for the formation of violent storms were met during the month of June: temperatures above average almost every day, and the presence of cold drops mobiles and D’air still warm in the lower layers of the atmosphere. This situation leads to a strong contrast of air massesespecially after the heat wave from June 15 to 19, which gives the potential to generate an explosive situation. The month of June is not over yet and the record for monthly lightning strikes has already been broken: with the lasting stormy situation looming for the next few days and next week, June 2022 will rise very high in the ranking of records of annual lightning strikes, all months combined, since the beginning of the surveys.
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