Guillaume Séchet, meteorologist and author of the book “Extreme weather” (Ed. Hugo Image), notes a “runaway” of temperatures. To the point that May will be the 12th consecutive month warmer than normal. Unheard of for 120 years!
Will this spring 2020 remain in the annals of the weather?
GUILLAUME SÉCHET. We had records of sunshine and heat in April. In Grenoble, for example, there were 43 consecutive days of dry weather, which the city had not experienced since 1953. And in Paris, between April 8 and 12, the thermometer exceeded 25 ° C. Five consecutive days of such heat, the capital had not known that since the creation of the weather station in 1873.
And the month of May is on the same trend?
May 2020 will no doubt become the 12th consecutive month warmer than normal in France. It is a completely new series since this indicator exists. Unheard of in over 120 years of measurements! The old record series was ten consecutive months above normal between September 2006 and June 2007. The statistical logic would therefore be that it will end soon, especially since we have chained several hot summers marked by heat waves. However, this logic no longer really applies at a time when warming is asserting itself and where breaking records of high temperatures has become usual.
READ ALSO> Summer 2020 promises to be hot and dry again
Does this mean that we will experience a new heat wave this summer like last year?
By definition, a heat wave is predictable only in the short term. But as the seasonal forecasts are for a hotter and drier summer than normal, the risk of experiencing a heat wave is indeed present, as in previous years. Last year, it was 43 ° C in Paris in July. To exceed this record would be really crazy. But days at 40 ° C? It's possible. Giec climatologists estimate that scorching summers like that of 2003 will be almost normal by the end of the century. And for the past few years, we have had the impression of having reached a higher stage in terms of global warming. As if we were experiencing a kind of runaway.
Newsletter - The essentials of the news
Every morning, the news seen by Le ParisienI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more
Is all of Europe concerned?
On a European scale, it is necessary to go back to the end of 2010 to find a month colder than normal on the continent and the positive anomalies have been particularly pronounced since 2014. In this context, we understand that the alternation of hot and cold periods is stopped and the hot series can go on forever. We are only in mid-May and it has already been 40 ° C near Palermo and up to 45 ° C in Algeria. On the Greek beaches, there are a lot of people because they have suffered a blow from the torch from the Sahara. These very hot weather can also affect France. Because with this global warming, it is as if France was changing latitude and undergoing a subtropical climate.
