Advertisement

Paris has wettest spring in 100 years and it's hitting morale

The Local France
The Local France - [email protected]
Paris has wettest spring in 100 years and it's hitting morale
Photo: AFP

It's official - it has been the wettest spring in 116 years and it's impacting on life in the French capital.

Advertisement

New figures have revealed that the last three months have been absolutely awful in terms of spring weather. 
 
It rained on 42 days during the season - which is 12 days more than normal. 
 
And we're not talking about light spring showers - this is some serious rain. In fact, the cumulative rainfall in Paris has already hit 310 mm - which is 91 percent higher than normal. 
 
This was enough to make it the wettest spring since the year 1900. 
 
Last month, May, was the wettest of all with 178.6 mm of rain.
 
"This is a record and is three times what usually falls in this period," Cyrille Duchesne from La Chaîne Météo weather station told Le Figaro newspaper.
 
The capital was drenched with 89.1 mm between May 28th and 31st, which is a the most rain to fall in a four-day period in Paris since 1960. 
 
Hence the reason the river Seine reached it's highest levels in 30 years.
 
 
And the sunny days have been hard to find. 
 
In fact, there have only been 437 hours of sunshine for the season compared with the average of 488. 
 
June so far has only seen 48 hours of sunshine, a 51 percent drop compared to the average for the first two weeks of the year.
 
And the weather is having an adverse impact on Parisian life and it's hitting the fragile morale of the locals, it seems.

Café terraces have be largely deserted whereas at this time of the year they are normally overflowing with locals soaking up a little sun with a café au lait or a verre du vin.

Normally in June the French capital’s precious few open spaces are constantly packed but the gloomy and wet weather has put people off going to the parks or the pedestrianized banks of the River Seine.

And as is normal, the weather sees a drop in the overall mood of the city, psychiatrists say.

“When it rains, we tend to go out less and become a little closed in on ourselves,” said Hervé Montes, president of the French Association of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

The psychiatrist says some people need the “white light” (the light from sun) or they are affected by seasonal depression, but he said the biggest impact on the mood comes from our own expectations.

The previous two Junes, in 2014 and 2015, saw plenty of sun and warm weather.

The fact that Parisians will have been expecting to be able to sit out on terraces late into the evening, have picnics by the river or the canal or spend afternoons in the park, but cannot, leaves them down and frustrated.

The problem is, the locals must brace themselves for more of the same (or head to the Riviera).

Below is the weather forecast for Friday afternoon, followed by Saturday afternoon. For more, check out Météo France here

Saturday afternoon and evening's forecast:

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also