The year 2023 ranks as the second warmest year on record Francesince the start of the 20th century, with the average temperature hovering around 14.4 degrees Celsius, the country’s Meteorological Service (Météo-France) said on its website today.

“In addition to the provisional report presented on November 30, the integration of the measurements of the month of December allows us to confirm that, following 2022, the warmest year that France has known since the beginning of the 20th century, the year 2023 ranks as the second warmest years in our territory,” explained Météo-France.

“With an average temperature of 14.4 degrees Celsius“, compared to 14.5 degrees Celsius in 2022, “the thermal anomaly in the whole year reaches +1.4 degrees (compared to normal temperatures between 1991-2020)”, the French meteorological service clarifies.

On the contrary, in international level, in 2023 it recommends “the hottest year ever recorded worldwide“, underlines Météo-France, based on the data of the European Copernicus program, to which the organization contributes.

In early December, before the data from the last month of the year was included, Copernicus had reported that 2023 would be “the warmest year ever recorded in history”.

The planet experienced record temperatures in many countries in 2023, during a year marked by months of drought in Africa, but also devastating fires in Europe and North America.