Winter was warmer, drier and sunnier than normal

I’meteorological winter (December – January – February) just ended and Weather report France has just published its climate balance : this winter, France found itself under the influence of the anticyclone for long periods, resulting in particularly calm and dry weather. What marks this winter above all is the absence of lasting severe cold: only two periods of moderate cold have occurred in the last three months: from December 20 to 22, then from January 12 to 27. Temperatures were on average 1 to 2°C above seasonal values ​​over most of the country, and locally more than 2°C from Hauts-de-France to Alsace.

Second highlight and worrying fact of this winter 2021-2022, it hardly rained on the South-East and Corsica. On the other hand, in the South-West, the precipitation were sometimes abundant, with floods in Landes, Ariège and Pyrénées-Atlantiques. ” This winter ranks among the ten driest winters over the period 1959-2022 in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (PACA) region, Languedoc-Roussillon and Corsica. On average in France, the rainfall deficit should exceed 10%”, according to Meteo France.

On the sky side, there was a 20 to 40% excess of sunshine in the southern half of the country, particularly in Corsica. On the other hand, the greyness dominated in the North-West, with a lack of sunshine of more than 10% in Lower Normandy and Brittany.