Since the start of the industrial era, our planet has been heating up. Scientists keep repeating it. Plus 1.2 ° C already, on average. And the experts have just announced, the summer of 2021 was the hottest summer on record in Europe. But, what about us? How does this translate for France? After July was slightly cooler than normal, August also showed a negative temperature anomaly.
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In August 2021, the mean temperature over metropolitan France was 20.0 ° C. This is little ? In our minds alone, especially since we’ve just had six remarkably hot summers. But, in fact, this temperature is only a little lower than normal – that calculated over a period of 30 years, between 1981 and 2010, but we will come back to this soon in a dedicated topic. And finally, the month of August 2021 ends with a anomaly of -0.5 ° C.
Once again, it is the Mediterranean rim and the Corsica which raise this average. Elsewhere, highs were, on average, 1 to 3 ° C below normal. Except in the middle of the month, when there is a peak in heat. Even more particularly marked in the South-East. Locally, temperatures then exceeded 40 ° C.
Météo France recalls that while temperatures above 40 ° C were rare in France in the last century, they now appear every summer since 2010 – except in 2014. In the Bouches-du-Rhône, it has been recorded, this Friday August 13, 2021, a temperature of 41.2 ° C. It’s 11 ° C above normal!
Uneven precipitation
On the precipitation side, the beginning of August was hectic. But the rains then became rather rare, with the exception of the Northeast. The result: surplus accumulations of 10 to 60% over the region. Elsewhere, deficit accumulations of 30 to 70%. And even more on some areas. Especially on Corsica.
On August 24, the Var experienced an episode of heavy rainfall. Locally, the rainfall amounts exceeded 100 millimeters. All due to a completely classic meteorological configuration. Not at all to one Mediterranean episode or cévenol as we see more commonly in the fall.
On the overseas side
France is also overseas departments and regions. Some in thenorthern hemisphere – Martinique, Guadeloupe – and others insouthern hemisphere – Reunion, Guyana and Mayotte – where we are therefore still in winter. Data for overseas is not being released at the time of publication. However, information for July 2021 is now available for most regions. Except always for Mayotte – last update in February 2021.
On the Guadeloupe side, the month of July was rather hot – even very hot on the Northern Islands where the month ranks 5e position of hottest July since 1959 -, with temperatures overall close to normal. It was also particularly dry – with a monthly cumulative of 89 mm for a normal of 130 mm. And extremely windy.
In Martinique, temperatures were slightly above normal. At Lamentin, thermometers read 28.1 ° C for a normal of 27.8 ° C. The precipitation was quiet. The average deficit in July 2021 was around 20 to 30%.
Reunion, for its part, recorded, in July 2021, a temperature anomaly of + 0.5 ° C for an average temperature of 22.0 ° C. The precipitation were in surplus by 25% on average.
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