A very spring-like climate is arriving in France this week, where you least expected it. And temperature anomalies are increasing.
From December onwards, rain, snow and gray weather alternated in the north of the country with temperatures sometimes very low. Since then, atypical phenomena have followed one another in France, sometimes with very mild, even spring-like temperatures in the south. And these phenomena which have continued over the last few weeks do not seem ready to stop.
As The Weather Channel reminds us, “abnormal mildness has persisted in our country since January 20” and is expected to continue. Indeed, the site announces that “gentleness is once again on the agenda.” Since January 20, the average temperature nationwide has been between 4°C and 6°C above seasonal norms. During this period, a heat peak was even reached on January 24, with “a national thermal indicator at 12.28°C while the normal is 5°C.”
For this week of February 12, “the rise of air of subtropical origin” will be the cause of very mild temperatures. The southwest of the country will be particularly affected by these spring temperatures. For the middle of the week, La Chaîne Météo forecasts very nice clearings “from the southwest to the Massif Central, to the Alps up to the Jura” and very mild weather “near the Mediterranean”. The site announces 21°C in Biarritz, 18°C in Perpignan, 17°C in Nice and 16°C in Marseille, Montpellier and Ajaccio. To the north, the trend will be different with persistent clouds and a few showers to the west in Rouen, Cherbourg and Nantes. Temperatures will still be around 13°C in Brest and will be at least 9°C like in Lille and Rouen. The Weather Channel announces for this week that “north of the Loire and near the English Channel (…) grayness and humidity will often prevail”.
It is from Thursday that the trend could degenerate into climatic anomalies. These anomalies mainly concern the French massifs where temperatures will be abnormally high. For the days of Wednesday and Thursday, La Chaîne Météo announces that “It will generally be 8 to 10°C in the morning and 13 to 17°C in the afternoon from north to south. It will be 7 to 10°C above seasonal norms, at the level of mid-May in the south and early May in the north.
The peak of this episode is expected on Wednesday or Thursday, where La Chaîne Météo forecasts up to 25°C “at the foot of the Pyrenees”. Same thing nationally, the thermal indicator will be at its highest on Thursday with 12.1°C. In the other massifs of the territory, the site announces that “the return of mild weather will help to melt the snow in the Pyrenees and the Massif-Central” and adds that there will be no snow in the Jura and in the Vosges. Only the Alps seem to be spared with snow in ski resorts “located above 1800 meters above sea level”. Regarding the north of France, the site predicts “more active disturbances with wind and moderate rain”.
This Friday, February 16, the rainy disturbances should reach the south of France with the weakening of the anticyclone, but without changing anything to the mildness which reigns this week. As indicated by La Chaîne Météo, the drought in Roussillon also continues. This Friday in the south of the country temperatures will be between 13°C, as in Nice, and 17°C, as in Perpignan.