Rain, cold, wind… In recent months, the weather has not been very lenient in France, to the chagrin of most holidaymakers.
As confirmed by meteorologist Guillaume Séchet, creator of the site meteo-villes.com, with the exception of June, this summer 2021 was “particularly poor, almost as much as that of 2014”. Seven years ago, he says, “August and July were wetter”.
On average, “there had been a surplus [de pluie] 40% in France, while this year it is 23% ”. If some regions have passed through the drops, especially the South-East, where it was very hot, the month of July was particularly wet, with sometimes more than 500 millimeters between the Jura and the Northern Alps.
the Azores high pressure and the cold drop
August was “drier, but very cloudy”. Overall, however, temperatures were not much below normal. In July, “we were on average at -0.2 degrees and in August, at -0.6 degrees below normal”.
If the thermometer did not panic, it was mainly due to the position of the Azores anticyclone, an area of high atmospheric pressure. In order for a summer to be hot, it is positioned on the British Isles. But this summer, explains the specialist, he stayed “in the Azores, so quite far from us”.
Therefore, “we have a dominant ocean current, westerly winds laden with humidity, and with freshness.” This ocean current also favored the formation of several cold drops which stationed over France and caused heavy rains.
a fresh SUMMER THAT WE ARE LIKELY TO REGRET
A cold drop is a pocket of cold air that appears at an altitude of more than 5,000 meters and which is difficult to predict, continues Guillaume Séchet. It is for this reason that the forecasts have not been very good. In spring, seasonal trends favored a hot summer.
But this meteorological phenomenon is nonetheless commonplace. “There are more and more frequently since the end of the 1980s, when we observed a global warming of the planet,” he notes.
The meteorologist, who listed the weather over the past few summers in France in a chronic, nonetheless recalls that, even if this summer 2021 was relatively disappointing in terms of temperatures, we may regret it in the future. In a few years, he concludes, “we will no longer be able to breathe because there will only be heat waves.”