in France, 2023 was the second hottest year on record

Sunshine, average temperatures, precipitation: the 2023 weather report in France, drawn up by Météo France, is quite far from normal. 2023 is the second hottest year our country has ever experienced, after 2022.

In France, 2023 “ranks the second hottest year in our territory after 2022 with an average temperature of 14.4 degreesreports Météo France on Friday January 5 on its site. The thermal anomaly over the whole year reaches +1.4 degrees compared to 1991-2020 normals., underlines the organization in its annual report. The year 2022 remains the hottest year on record.

This heat is due to sunshine “slightly excess” in 2023 (+6%), according to the site meteo-villes.com with “geographic disparities” (+6% in Nice, +11% in Nantes, +13% in Nancy, +15% in Rouen). According to this same source, “rare are the cities to have a slight deficit of sunshine” (-2% in Limoges and Bourg-Saint-Maurice).

According to meteo-villes.com, “most towns located north of the Loire have not managed to exceed 2 000 cumulative hours of sunshine”. It is in the north of Brittany and the tip of Cotentin “only the lowest values” were recorded: 1,684 hours in Saint-Brieuc, 1,672 hours in Cherbourg, 1,548 hours in Brest. “From the west of the country to Rhône-Alpes via Auvergne”, sunshine was generally between 2,000 and 2,200 hours. Finally, as usual, the south-eastern quarter of France was the sunniest, “well over 2,500 hours”particularly around the Mediterranean: 2,827 hours in Montpellier, 2,918 hours in Ajaccio, 2,925 hours in Nice and even 3,040 hours in Marseille.

February 2023, fourth driest month in France since 1959

In terms of rainfall, more or less significant contrasts were noted “depending on the months and regions”note meteo-villes.com including all the data “are assessed by professional meteorologists”. So the year 2023 has begun “by very dry conditions. The month of February was the 4th driest month measured in France, all months of the year combined since 1959 (start of the statistical series)”. Then there was “a reversal” from mid-October “with the return of very heavy rains”.

Météo France draws up this observation, taking the example of Pas-de-Calais. The department has been placed on red flood alert several times in recent months. “Over the period October 15, 2023 to January 3, 2024, the cumulative precipitation exceeds 500 millimeters over the entire Pas-de-Calais. This is more than twice the normal over this period. The highest previous accumulation, over the same period, was around 430 millimeters in 2001.”underlines the meteorological organization.

In three-quarters of France, the rainfall standard has been reached or exceeded. “In New Aquitaine, Ile-de-France, in the Alps, the Cotentin, the Ardennes or between Pas-de-Calais and the Bay of Somme, the excess rainfall reaches +20 to 30% or even beyond ( +25% in Paris, +28% in Bordeaux, +30% in Le Touquet, +31% in Cognac”details meteo-villes.com.

Conversely, the year 2023 was “remarkably dry” throughout the Mediterranean rim. “In most towns in Languedoc, Roussillon, Provence, Côte d’Azur and the eastern coast of Corsica, the deficits are particularly marked, reaching -40 to -60% (-46% in Marseille -Marignane, -49% in Nice, -50% in Bastia, -58% in Perpignan and -59% in Montpellier)”according to this same source.

A month of December almost “without winter character”

The month of December was “significantly warmer than normal”with average temperatures exceeding normal by 1.9 degrees over the period 1991-2020. “The mildness was almost omnipresent, with very few frosts in the plains. Only the very first days of the month were wintery”noted Météo France.

Internationally, 2023 is the hottest year ever recorded in the world, according to data from the European Copernicus program, to which Météo-France contributes.