In Toulouse, it is a real Météo France campus which welcomes more than 1,200 people. There are mainly climatologists and forecasters like Maximilien, who has been in great demand in recent days: “It’s clearly big days, given the climate challenge.” His passion is still intact, even after twenty years in the business. Morale, on the other hand, is a bit more complicated. “We do a little bit day by day, says Maximilian. It is a permanent adaptation to the reduction in sail area”. While climate change is at work, especially with the drought period and recent heat records, forecasters or climatologists from Météo France explain that it is increasingly difficult to fulfill their missions.
The difficulties concern first of all the staff. They have been in continuous decline for more than ten years. “We lost a third of the workforce, it’s hugedeplores Clément Testa, CGT delegate. We also lost a lot of resources with more than a quarter of Météo France’s budget being reduced. Today, we are at the limit of being able to carry out the primary missions of Météo France which concern the safety of people and property. We can give the very concrete example of cyclones in the West Indies.”
“Today, we have a radar in the West Indies which is broken. If we do not have the means to go and repair the radar, to change it before the hurricane season, that could put the population in danger.”
Clément Testa, CGT delegateat franceinfo
Same observation for climatologists, those who anticipate the weather for the next hundred years, essential to anticipate and adapt. And yet, “at the research lab, we were deprived of five thesis grants”denounces Gilles, who has worked at Météo France for three years. “It’s less research in the future. We are told that we are putting in the effort and that we are doing the job for climate change. But in fact, behind it, it’s a flute. Clearly, the resources are not put on it. We are essentially talking about human resources because that is what is needed. We need brains who work on it, who know what it is about and who have expertise on the subject. Météo France would be the right body to do that.”
This is also what centrist senator Vincent Capo-Canellas thinks, author of a report published in the fall of 2021 which denounces this situation to Météo France. “Today’s weather forecast is not just for everyone’s needs.explains the senator. This is a matter of civil security which is aggravated by the effects of global warming. Our operator, which is highly recognized in the world and among the three best, must be able to have the means to develop in order to remain at the forefront of technological developments. So far, France has succeeded, but today we are at a time when there is a risk of tipping. I am sounding the alarm a little by saying that it is now necessary to stabilize the staff and subsidies of Météo-France. But for now, the trend is still down. By the end of the year, 60 positions will be eliminated.