France goes 31 days without rain, raising concerns about water for summer

It has been a month since any significant rain fell on mainland France, hitting a record and raising concerns about water reserves that were depleted in last year’s severe drought.

This picture taken on 7 August 2022 shows the low levels of the Loire river in Saint-Mathurin-sur-Loire, western France. © AFP - JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER

February 2023 is turning out to be one of the driest on record, since 1959, the weather service Meteo France said Tuesday.

Less one milimetre a day of rainfall has been recorded over the entire country since 21 January – 31 consecutive days – hitting a record set in April 2020. The previous record for a winter dry spell was 22 days in 1989.

🌧️❌ La #pluie n'est pas tombée en France depuis le 21 janvier, soit une série de 31 jours consécutifs (20 février inclus), du jamais vu durant un hiver météorologique.

📊Tous mois confondus, cette série consécutive égale celle de l'année 2020 du 17 mars au 16 avril. pic.twitter.com/poMdhsBGg3

— Météo-France (@meteofrance) February 21, 2023

Fires have broken out because of the dry conditions, with 60 hectares burned near Perpignan at the start of February, and fires in the Bouches-du-Rhone, in the area around Marseille.

The lack of rain this winter is raising concerns about groundwater, which provides two thirds of France’s drinking water and a third of water used to irrigate crops.

• Record heat and low rainfall made 2022 France's hottest, driest year yet

Groundwater was depleted by the severe drought last year, with record high temperatures reached in France, Britain, Spain and Italy.

Winter rains usually fill up groundwater levels, but the Office of geological and mineral research (GRGM) in January said it was “rather pessimistic” about groundwater availability this summer.

Departments in the south of France have already implemented water restriction measures, as the national government is working on a national water plan.

Meteo France did say the dry spell is not expected to last much longer, with rain forecast in the south of the country on Wednesday, but did raise concern about recurring dry spells.

“France is experiencing a worrying meteorological drought,” the weather agency said. “Since August 2021, every month has seen a rain deficit, except for December 2021, June 2022 and September 2022.”

While individual events cannot be attributed to global warming, their recurrence follows United Nations climate predictions on climate change linked to human activity.

(with AFP)