Record average temperature, almost normal rainfall… What to remember from Météo-France’s 2023 climate report

The years go by and they all look the same. According to the climate report for the year 2023, presented Thursday November 30 at Météo-France headquarters in Toulouse, the current year was the second hottest ever recorded since 1900, after 2022, due to a summer marked by several heat waves and an autumn with record temperatures in France. “What we observe corresponds to the trends in climate projections”, explained Virginie Schwarz, CEO of the forecasting institute, alongside the Minister of Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu, and the Minister responsible for Local Authorities, Dominique Faure. Here is what to remember from Météo-France’s results.

One of the hottest years ever

The year 2023 “should in all likelihood rank as the second hottest year in France, with an average temperature of 14.2°C”announced Météo-France, which is based on its forecasts as of November 24. That registers “in continuation of 2022, the hottest year that France has experienced since the beginning of the 20th century”. The forecaster estimates that the thermal anomaly in 2023 should be located “around +1.3°C” compared to season averages over the period 1991-2020.

While the effects of global warming caused by human activities are increasingly visible in France and around the world, nine of the ten hottest years in France since 1900 were recorded after 2010, Météo-France recalls.

Another record summer

“Summer temperatures in 2023 stretched out for a long time, from June until mid-October, with several late hot episodes”explains Météo-France, which classifies summer 2023 – June, July and August, according to meteorologists – fourth hottest summer ever recorded in France since 1900, behind 2003, 2022 and 2018.

This summer, which was marked by a particularly hot month of June, also experienced a late and exceptional heat wave, between August 17 and 24. “It is the longest and most intense ever observed after August 15”commented Virginie Schwarz, noting that the probability of it occurring has probably “been multiplied by 100 due to global warming”.

An exceptionally mild autumn

“With the warmest month of September, the second warmest month of October and a still mild November, autumn 2023 will be the warmest on record since 1900, ahead of autumns 2006 and 2022”, calculated Météo-France in its annual report. The season was notably marked by two episodes of heat, between September 3 and 10, and between September 27 and October 13. During its monthly report at the end of September, the forecasting institute estimated that the temperature average during the month of September had reached 21.5°C, or between 3.5°C and 3.6°C above the monthly average temperature during the period 1991-2020.

Rainfall close to normal

“After an extremely dry year in 2022, the average rainfall over the year 2023 is close to normal, although with strong contrasts between seasons and regions”, noted Météo-France. In autumn, “France has experienced an almost uninterrupted succession of rainy spells, favored by a ‘rail of depressions’ on the near Atlantic”. Between mid-October and mid-November, 32 consecutive days of rain were recorded. “The increase in hydrological contrasts [sécheresse et précipitations] is found in climate projections”specified Virginie Schwarz.

If the year 2022 was marked by an exceptional drought, this is not the case in 2023, where “THE soils have thus become considerably re-humidified and are now wetter than normal over almost all of France, even saturated in places.. However, the aquifers remain in deficit and “a permanent drought affects the Mediterranean arc, particularly Languedoc-Roussillon”recalled the president and CEO of Météo-France.