France experienced a particularly mild Christmas on Sunday, December 25, well above normal for the season and the second warmest since the post-war period, as La Chaîne Météo* notably indicated, which is planning a weekend end of the New Year, which is also "
exceptionally mild
".
On December 25, 2022, the national thermal indicator (an average of 30 stations spread over the metropolitan territory) stood at 11.3°C, according to the public establishment Météo France.
"
It's quite simply the second sweetest Christmas since the start of the indicator in 1947
," meteorologist François Gourand told AFP.
A record could even be broken if we take the average of December 24 and 25, he believes: "
I think that on the average of the two days we are on an unprecedented level of sweetness for this time of year.
".
The mildest Christmas recorded to date is still that of 1997 with 11.7°.
Read alsoGlobal warming: the first warnings from the end of the 1950s
2022, the “hottest year ever observed”
This mildness is explained by a flow bringing mild air masses to the country, closely linked to invasions of tropical air from Africa, according to La Chaîne Météo.
“
These weather patterns are not exceptional in themselves, but now the air masses coming up from the south tend to always be a little warmer
,” notes François Gourand.
According to the Weather Channel, the Christmases of 1983 and 2015 were also very mild.
In 1983, "
we (recorded) 21.7°C in Biarritz (...) and 14.2°C in Paris
", indicates the organization.
In 2015, it was 18.3°C in Montluçon, 21.6°C in Bustince (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) and 15.6°C in Nantes.
Read alsoDemography, a complex driver of global warming
Still, the year 2022 should be "
the hottest year ever observed since the beginning of reliable weather records in 1900
", explains La Chaîne Météo.
With an average temperature of 14.4°C, 2022 will have a temperature surplus of around 1.5°C compared to normal (13.9°C).
“
The year will be at the forefront of the hottest years, clearly ahead of the years 2020 (+1.1°C) and 2018 (+1°C)
”, specifies the organization.
*The Weather Channel is a property of the Figaro group.