A season of all records. The summer of 2022 is the second hottest summer ever recorded, after that of 2003. Météo France takes stock, Tuesday, August 30. Heat waves, record temperatures, drought… The National Meteorological and Climate Institute reviews the records broken over the past three months and how they fit into the context of climate change. Franceinfo summarizes what you need to remember.
The second hottest summer after 2003
On the average for the last three months, temperatures were 2.3 degrees above the average for the years 1991 to 2020, reaching 22.67 degrees. The summer of 2022 is therefore the second hottest measured, behind that of the year 2003. Temperatures were particularly high in the southern and western regions of the country. In detail, the month of June was 2.3 degrees warmer than normal. For the month of July, this increase amounts to 2.1 degrees. And 2.5 for the month of August.
A record 33 days of heat waves
The summer of 2022 saw three heat waves hit the country. Never seen. In total, 33 days were plagued by crushing temperatures, according to the count of Météo France. Again, a record since 1947. The first episode, recorded in June, lasted 5 days, when those of July and August each lasted 14 days. The June heat wave is therefore shorter, but it is also the earliest ever measured by Météo France. The thermometer thus rose to 40 degrees in Saint-Jean-de-Minervois, in Hérault, on June 16. A first so early in the year.
Other absolute temperature records were then broken in the summer. On July 18, the entire west coast (and even up to the Channel coast) reached temperatures never before measured: 43 degrees in Arcachon, 40.1 degrees in Caen, 39.6 degrees in Boulogne-sur- Sea, or 39.3 degrees in Brest. In the city of Finistère, this new record exceeds the previous one by more than 4 degrees.
The driest month of July
In addition to being exceptionally hot, the summer of 2022 was also particularly dry. Over the past three months as a whole, France has faced a rainfall deficit of -25% compared to the average for the years 1990 to 2020. But for the month of July, this deficit even reached -85%, which which makes it the driest month of July ever measured in France.
The drought, which was already affecting the territory before the summer, has therefore worsened in recent months. Météo France speaks of a “record drought occurring on average every 25 years”but adds that soil drought is even more widespread than in previous episodes of 2003 and 1976.
A historic summer today, but classic in a few decades
Météo France evokes a summer “emblematic of the observed and future consequences of climate change in France”. Samuel Sorin, researcher and director of the National Center for Meteorological Research (CNRM) explains: “Half of the 21st century, half of the summers are expected to be similar to the summer of 2022”. Temperatures in France have already warmed up by 1.7 degrees compared to 1900, and the number of days of heat waves per year is nine times higher over the period 1989-2022 than between 1947 and 1989.
The Meteorological Institute recalls the four key risks for Europe identified by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): extreme heat affecting people and ecosystems, loss of agricultural production, lack of water, and increased flooding and flooding.