The return of winter is surprising this year as the summer of 2022 was hot, even scorching.
Since November 30, a gripping cold has enveloped the whole country.
And according to
La Chaîne Météo
, this cold will get worse from this weekend.
Next week promises to be freezing, and December could be the coldest month of 2010.
“
The cold will be less foggy, brighter, and therefore sharper, drier
, warns the meteorologist of
La Chaîne Météo,
Régis Crépet.
The nights will be much colder with real frost that will cover the ground with ice, right up to the seaside, including on the Mediterranean coast
”.
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However, can we qualify the episode of low temperature that we are experiencing as a cold snap?
The term, sometimes used in everyday language, refers, in meteorology, to a very precise notion, framed by temperature thresholds.
“
Temperatures across the country must be below 0.9°C for several days on average
”, specifies Régis Crépet.
And the cold endured for several days does not, in this case, fall below this limit if we establish an average over the whole of France.
“
The mercury must also drop below 2°C over the whole of France for at least a day, that is to say that there is no thaw from North to South and from 'East to West
'.
Softening at the end of the month
These episodes of “
cold wave
” are therefore very rare.
The last one dates back to February 2018, and the previous one to February 2012. These circumstances are increasingly rare due to global warming, which has resulted in milder winters in recent years.
However, current temperatures are definitely below seasonal averages.
They are also more in line with the seasonal forecasts which warned this fall that the winter would be colder, "
or rather less mild
", adds Régis Crépet, than the previous ones: "
We are probably going to experience the coldest winter of these three years, that is to say since the 2018 season, which had been less mild and closer to the usual winter averages than the following ones
".
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Admittedly, a mild winter would
have been welcome given the current energy crisis and the feared shortages during the usual consumption peaks such as the Christmas and New Year holidays.
around December 18
", reassures Régis Crépet, however, and the current cold will therefore not
a priori
continue for New Year's Eve.
With a 60% probability, the month of January is not forecast to be too cold either by the seasonal projections.
*The Weather Channel belongs to the Figaro group.