The meteorological autumn (September-October-November) 2023 “will be the hottest ever recorded since 1900”, according to the climate report for the year 2023 presented Thursday, November 30 at Météo-France headquarters in Toulouse by the Minister of Transition ecological, Christophe Béchu.

“With the warmest month of September, October in 2nd place and a still mild November, autumn 2023 will be the warmest on record since 1900, ahead of autumns 2006 and 2022”, explains Météo- France in its balance sheet.

Late heat wave

Furthermore, 2023 “should in all likelihood rank as the second hottest year in France with an average temperature of 14.2°C”, according to forecasts made on November 24, “in continuation of 2022, “the hottest year that France has experienced since the beginning of the 20th century”, underlines the results. “The thermal anomaly over the whole year should therefore be around 1.3°C” compared to 1991-2020 normals, he specifies.

Among the highlights of the year, Météo-France notes “a long summer” which ranks “4th hottest summer”, before an exceptional autumn. “Summer temperatures in 2023 stretched out over France, from June until mid-October with several late hot episodes,” notes the forecaster, noting in particular the “late heat wave” which began in the south of the country on August 11 and spread to a large part of the territory from the 17th to the 24th, except for the northwest. It was “the longest and most intense heat wave ever observed after August 15,” Météo-France assured.