Weather forecast: towards record spring mildness until New Year’s Eve

The start of the week was marked by the establishment of a veritable parade of disturbances from the Atlantic, bringing rain and wind to most regions. This situation will continue until Wednesday, before the sun returns between Thursday and Friday. It is also this bright weather that will accompany us for the transition to 2022.

But what will above all be in the news in the coming days is the softness that promises to be more and more marked with the establishment of a flow from the south to south-west sector. Between Wednesday and Thursday, the temperatures will then be worthy of an April with the key, expected records and in particular at altitude.

Between an anticyclone rising from the Mediterranean and the depressions present on the Atlantic, a mass of air exceptionally mild for the season will gradually approach the country. Between Monday and Tuesday, the mercury will already gain between 2 and 4 ° C depending on the region, but it is truly Wednesday that it will reach levels worthy of spring. In the middle of the week, it will often be 10 to 14 ° C when you wake up in three quarters of the country while the maximums can reach or exceed 15 ° C, with peaks of more than 20 ° C in the most South.

In addition, with the southerly wind, a foehn effect is expected at the foot of the Pyrenees. This meteorological phenomenon occurs when the wind is perpendicular to a relief. Coming from the south, it thus passes over the Pyrenean chain. It is when he has crossed the mountain that he considerably heats the air by compressing and reaching the plains and valleys located on the other side. It is ultimately the same principle as the bicycle pump: when you compress it to inflate a tire, the air heats up. Under these conditions, peaks at 25-26 ° C are possible. Records of smoothness could thus be broken.

At altitude, the situation will be even more exceptional, with values ​​up to 12 ° C above the norms for the end of December. Thus, the bar of 20 ° C could be crossed in the Pyrenees, the Southern Alps and the Massif Central up to 1000 m altitude. Values ​​of around 15 ° C or more will even be possible in mid-mountain resorts, around 1,500 meters. To find negative temperatures, it will then be necessary to go up beyond 4000 meters of altitude!

Such values ​​at this time of year are simply unheard of. The maximum temperature records will thus be numerous to fall, as possibly at the station of the Mont Aigoual observatory where readings have been carried out continuously since 1895. The monthly record, which for the time being is 16.7 ° C. December 21, 1987, could be exceeded Thursday or Friday.

Such a wave of mildness is not going to make winter sports resorts happy. While the snow cover was remarkable, even exceptional a few days before the Christmas holidays, it could quickly become in deficit with the melting which promises to be significant under the effect of the sun and the mildness of the weekend. The year 2022 will start under the same auspices, without any new snowfall over the next 10 days.