France suffered record heat, rain shortfall in 2022: weather office

Near-bare slopes at the Luchon-Superbagneres ski resort in southwestern France on January 5, 2023 – Copyright AFP MANDEL NGAN

France experienced its hottest average temperature and lowest levels of rainfall on record in 2022, the national weather office said on Friday.

The average temperature for the year was 14.5 degrees Celsius (58.1 Fahrenheit), “very far above 2020 which held the previous record” of 14,07 degrees Celsius, Meteo France said in a statement. 

The heat was “a symptom of climate change,” it added.

The country also suffered a “record rainfall deficit”