Mont Aigoual, in the Cévennes, on the border between the departments of Gard and Lozère, is an implacable witness to climate change.
The average temperature in 2022 was 8°C.
A record.
The effects can be seen with the naked eye: less snowfall, fewer days of frost.
Mount Aigoual is an implacable witness to climate change.
In recent years, this summit, which culminates at 1,565 meters, between the departments of Gard and Lozère, has collected worrying meteorological records.
In 2022, the average temperature on this Cévennes mountain rose, for the first time since records began, to 8°C, i.e. 1 degree higher than the previous record, set in 2020. “The current normal for Mont Aigoual is 5.7 ° C, explains to
20 Minutes
Gaétan Heymes, forecasting engineer at Météo-France.
The 2022 average exceeds it by 2.4°C.
Ten years ago it was 5.3°C, twenty years ago it was 4.9°C and thirty years ago it was 4.6°C.
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And 8°C is just an average.
Because in recent months, the mercury has sometimes reached peaks at Mount Aigoual.
In October, the monthly average exceeded 10°C, with 10.6° observed on the peak from October 1 to 27.
A record, again.
A few days later, at the beginning of November, Météo-France was concerned that it had not frozen at Mont Aigoual since… April.
Again, that had never happened.
Blame it on a very hot semester, with an average of 14.1°C between May and October, i.e. 3.4°C above the average from 1991 to 2020. “At this rate, around + 0.3°C to +0.4°C per decade, the value of 8°C would become normal at the end of the century”, continues Gaétan Heymes.
"The rise in temperatures still depends on our trajectories of greenhouse gas emissions"
"However, the rate of temperature rise at this time still depends on our greenhouse gas emissions trajectories," notes the forecaster.
If we manage to reduce the overall temperature to +1.5°C, it is possible that this value of 8°C will remain higher than normal, throughout the 21st century, at Aigoual.
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On the Cévennes summit, the effects of climate change can be seen with the naked eye.
The snow cover "reduces in thickness and duration", the number of days of frost melts, and the episodes of heat increase in summer, notes Gaétan Heymes.
These climatic upheavals, Denis Boissière, the co-manager of Alti Aigoual, the only station of this Cévennes mountain, observes them closely.
"It's no longer a climate change, it's a climate explosion," he laments to
20 Minutes
.
“We still believe in it”
“We had studied intensely, before taking over the station, the climatic conditions, between 2008 and 2018. We had counted on a gradual warming.
But, in fact, since 2019, we have really had a climate explosion.
“On” the winter part, we still believe in it, he notes.
Can't believe it's so brutal.
Aigoual must play the role of a local resort, for sport, health and the local economy.
The station is struggling, however, to reinvent itself.
But, for the moment, the projects which would make it possible to attract tourists in all seasons, a water park or a tree climbing park in particular, have been rejected by the Cévennes National Park.
OUR DOSSIER ON CLIMATE CHANGE
At the Alti Aigoual station, it is hoped that there will be enough snow by the end of winter to save the season.
And run away, period.
“We would need a month and a half of operation to manage to get out of it,” notes Denis Boissière.
" We believe in !
“Next weekend, the resort is hosting a trail run, with already 300 competitors, who will run “in winter conditions”.
But, a priori, not in the snow.
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