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ENVIRONMENT

France ranks 2023 second-hottest year on record

France experienced its second-hottest year in 2023 with the average temperature only just below record heat the previous year, the national weather office said on Friday.

Published: 5 January 2024 16:12 CET
France ranks 2023 second-hottest year on record
A man walks past a pharmacy sign displaying the temperature reaching 40 degrees Celcius in Bordeaux, southwestern France on August 23, 2023 (Photo by Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP)

“Following on from 2022, the hottest year in France since the start of the the 20th century, the year 2023 comes second,” said Meteo-France, which has been gathering average annual temperatures since 1900.

Temperatures last year stood at 14.4 degrees Celsius on average, compared to 14.5C in 2022, it added.

Europe’s climate monitor said last month that 2023 would be the hottest globally in recorded history after November became the sixth record-breaking month in a row.

The 2015 Paris climate accords aimed to limit global warming to well below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels — and 1.5C if possible.

But the UN’s World Meteorological Organization said in November that 2023 data to the end of October showed that last year was already around 1.4C above the pre-industrial baseline.

Last year was also set to be the United Kingdom’s second warmest on record after 2022, the country’s meteorological service said on Tuesday.

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ENVIRONMENT

Why Bordeaux wine is under threat in France this year

Winemakers in the famous French Bordeaux wine region fear the weather conditions this spring may lead to a disastrous harvest.

Published: 10 May 2024 15:48 CEST
Why Bordeaux wine is under threat in France this year

It’s the second year in a row that mildew has threatened Bordeaux vines. Around 90 percent of vineyards were affected by mildew to some extent in 2023, according to the regional chamber of agriculture.

But this year, the fungus has appeared earlier than usual. “If the weather continues, it’s going to be a disaster,” one vineyard owner told regional newspaper Sud Ouest, as mildew threatens crops. “I’ve never seen mildew strike so early.”

In its latest plant bulletin, the Gironde Chamber of Agriculture underlines the “favourable climatic conditions for [mildew] development” and is pessimistic for the coming days, fearing an increase in potential risk.

In the end, the 2023 harvest was reasonable, helped by favourable August weather – though a heatwave towards the end of the month raised concerns over working conditions.

READ MORE: France to revise its Champagne-making area due to climate change

But last year’s outbreak and the weather so far in 2024 has brought the ‘mildew season’ forward in parts of the region. The Grand Libournais and Graves winegrowing areas are particularly affected, according to May’s Bulletin de Santé du Végétal for Nouvelle Aquitaine.

Winegrowers in the Blayais region, meanwhile, have noticed that mildew spread is erratic – but the expected return of rainy conditions in the early part of next week have prompted concerns that the fungus’s spread will only increase.

“There are abandoned plots, neighbours who haven’t pruned their vines or estates that have been unable to carry out an uprooting program because of the incessant rain,” one vineyard owner said.

Official figures suggest that some 2,000 hectares of vines are uncultivated in the Gironde alone. The Fédération Départementale des Syndicats d’Exploitants Agricoles insists that the real figure is much larger – with implications for the health of neighbouring cultivated vines.

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