This week marks the shift from very cold weather to mild weather.
After temperatures well below seasonal averages since the beginning of December, the thermometer has started to rise again in France in recent days with values this time higher than those expected for the period.
On Tuesday, levels never seen before were reached in the Pyrenees.
The departments of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Hautes-Pyrénées and Ariège were concerned.
Monthly records for mildness have been broken locally, as in Ariège, with temperatures close to 25°C, i.e. close to the so-called “heat” threshold.
Up to 24.3°C this afternoon in Augirein (09), beating its monthly #record for #heat of 23°C in 2000 (station opened in 1990).
▶️24.1°C in Soulan (09)
▶️23.8°C in Ayros Arbouix (65)
▶️23.7°C in Oloron (64)
▶️23.3°C in Lanne-en-Baretous (64)
▶️23.3°C in Lomné (65) pic.twitter.com/xaMmrERgmb
— Meteociel (@meteociel) December 20, 2022
The trend will increase on Thursday and Friday.
According to Météo France forecasts, Friday could be the day with the hottest temperatures with nearly fifteen degrees in the north of the country and twenty in the south.
/Meteo France
Temperatures worthy of early spring
Saturday and Sunday, for December 24 and 25, temperatures will drop by 2°C to 3°C.
But as the sun will shine more, the feeling will be higher overall than Thursday and Friday.
However, rain is expected on Saturday in the border area of the New Aquitaine, Center Val-de-Loire and Loire-Atlantique regions.
On Sunday, showers will occur in the north of the country.
Abnormally high temperatures this week are accompanied by heavy rainfall.
This animation, relayed by meteorologist Guillaume Séchet, shows the expected accumulations by region between this Wednesday and next Monday.
He recalls that this is good news after a year marked by drought in France.
🌧 By the end of the week, several tens of millimeters of #rain will fall on the northern half of France, up to the north of the #Alps.
These winter rains are very good news for groundwater.
(via @wxcharts) pic.twitter.com/QzGZdZQEiY
— Guillaume Séchet (@Meteovilles) December 21, 2022
In December, Météo France recalls that the average temperatures are between 6°C and 10°C in the North depending on the region.
In the South, they range from 8°C to 14°C.
Those expected over the next few days are worthy of the start of spring with values corresponding to the end of March - beginning of April.
To read also +10 degrees in 24 hours: a thaw expected throughout France from this Monday
Temperatures higher than the norm
François Jobard, meteorologist at Météo France, summarizes the situation for the current week as follows: “The days leading up to Christmas are expected to be very mild, an astonishing mildness which will accompany weather that is often rainy over the northern two-thirds.
Spring
in the south with more sunny spells...” He attaches a map in support of his statement to show the average temperature anomaly between this Wednesday and Monday, December 26.
December 21.
Happy #Winter Solstice everyone.
The days leading up to #Christmas promise to be very mild, an astonishing mildness that will accompany often rainy weather on 2/3 north.
"Spring" in the south with more sunny spells... [T2m anomalies over 5 days via P ensemble GEFS].🎅 pic.twitter.com/VHW3mSPqxD
— Francois Jobard (@Francois_Jobard) December 21, 2022
The Météo-villes site explains that “maintaining a flow from south to south-west will allow an impressive thermal anomaly reaching up to +6°C in the center-east”.
He compares this situation with the first twenty days of the month when “the anomaly was -2.5°C”.
From the middle of next week, the European and American meteorological models are unable to agree between themselves, but also themselves, on the air mass that will dominate.
However, more and more calculations lead to the maintenance of higher temperatures than the norm.
