Weather: in April, the sun was not confined

"In April, do not discover yourself by a thread," warns the saying. But global warming may force forecasters to question the relevance of the old sayings. The month of April 2020 is indeed the third warmest ever observed in France since 1900. Mercury averaged +3 ° C across the country compared to normal. And according to the Meteo Paris site of forecaster Guillaume Séchet, “this month of April completes an incredible series of eleven consecutive months warmer than normal! You have to go back to May 2019 to find a trace of a cooler month than the average. "

It is especially in the northern half of the country that the thermometer experienced a real heat stroke with monthly "anomalies" of +4.9 ° C in Langres, +4.3 ° C in Rouen, +4.2 ° C in Limoges or Paris. And if we look at the maximum temperatures reached in the middle of the afternoon, when the sun hits the strongest, then the records rain: + 6.6 ° C in Langres, + 6.1 ° C in Rouen or Troyes and up to + 5.7 ° C in Paris!

Sun and heat all over the planet

Once is not custom, it was better to be on your balcony in the capital than in Marseille to enjoy a sunbath. According to the Meteo Paris site, “the sunshine was stronger in Paris (263 hours) than in Ajaccio (249 hours), more important in Dijon (286 hours) than in Marseille (260 hours), underline the forecasters. The sun was even almost twice as present in Strasbourg (308 hours) as in Perpignan (172 hours)! "

According to Météo-France, "the amount of sunshine was 20 to 40% surplus from Brittany to the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes region and more than 40% from Normandy to Burgundy Franche-Comté. From Hauts-de-France to Grand Est, the surplus reached 50 to 70% ”. These temperature and sunshine anomalies are not specific to France. Copernicus' climate change service, based on data from the European Center for Medium-term Weather Forecast, estimates April 2020 to be globally "comparable to April the hottest on record (in 2016) ”.

35.4 ° C in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques on Monday

"Temperatures were particularly above average in northern and central Eurasia, as well as parts of Greenland and Antarctica," says Copernicus. In Europe, they were well above average in a number of Western countries, but below average in the Northeast. ”

Will May follow the same trend? Certainly, a refresh has begun in the north of France, due to the passage of numerous disturbances. But the ascent of a mass of Saharan air over the southwest of France made it possible to record hot spots Monday worthy of August.

"On Monday, temperatures exceeded 30 ° C in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, with 35.4 ° C in Cambo-les-Bains, a temperature 13 ° C higher than normal for the season, underlines Gilles Matricon, meteorologist at La Chaîne weather. This is a new national heat record for the first decade of May and the earliest reliable 35 ° C observed in France since the start of the measurements. "