Drought in France: where are we really?

• Several departments of France were placed in “crisis” due to drought.
• Since June, the situation in France has deteriorated both in terms of groundwater and the surface of the soil.
• But it is still far from the historical droughts of 2022 and 2019.

The situation is worrying, but not catastrophic. This is a bit of the observation which is drawn up in this half of July 2025 in terms of drought. While 19 departments are in “crisis”, 22 in “reinforced alert”, 23 in “alert” and 20 in “vigilance” (new window)the situation in France is serious, but not catastrophic, whether in terms of groundwater or soil humidity.

Water tables: better than in 2022, less well in 2024

In his latest bulletin published on July 8 (new window)the geological and mining research office (BRGM) judges that “The situation is better than in 2022 and 2023, years of drought, but less good than last year”. Thus, 39% of water tables are less filled than the usual average for this season, 35% are above normal, 26% are comparable normal, 6% are up and 4% are very low. “We are very far from 2022confirms Violaine Bault, hydrologist at the BRGM. If we take the 2022 situation, the whole recharging was in deficit with a dry spring. This year, this is not really the case. ”

And especially in the south of France, unusually more drunk than the north in the spring (new window). “The situation has been deteriorating since February in the north with deficit rains. In the southern half, it has been rather since April or May”still points Violaine Bault. And the rest of the summer will depend on weather conditions for the next few weeks. “If it rains enough, it can re-humidify the floors and you can have a re-infiltration, this is what had happened in 2024 where it had pleased that the water had again penetrated the soils”she explains.

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But most of the time, summer rains remain ineffective, especially because they fall in the form of violent and very localized thunderstorms. “We have to study the effects violent thunderstorms that have affected the south of France in recent daysthis can cause small peaks for tablecloths and make it possible to limit the prohibitions for sampling and slow down degradation, but water is more likely to stream and that which will infiltrate will be used by vegetation “, indicates the BRGM hydrologist.

The organization, mainly, has been monitoring the Pyrénées-Orientales under high tension for three years, but also the Grand Est, Brittany, the northern part of the Massif Central and the Boulonnais where the conditions “Degrade faster than elsewhere due to a faster rock flow”.

Dry floors, but no alert yet

The observation is the same on the side of Météo-France for the state of the soil. “What we can say is that spring was rainy over the whole of France, but with a very marked deficit for the northern half of the country, Details Matthieu Sorel, meteorologist at Météo-France. And who says little precipitation, says the start of a meteorological drought that turned into agricultural drought and the soils have dried faster than they should. “

A situation that continued to deteriorate after a particularly hot June – the second month of the hottest June ever recorded – which resulted in soils drier than normal throughout the territory. “The soils are unusually dry over the northern half of the country, see exceptionally dry on the far north of the country like the north of Normandy or the Ardennes”, details the meteorologist.

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However, if the drought is there, “We are clearly not in the situation of 2019 and 2022”, Recalls Matthieu Sorel. “In 2022, the floors were drier than normal in early spring, the situation deteriorated in late spring and we experienced a drought record all the month of July”, he recalls.

Last point on this drought: the level of rivers and rivers in France. Since the beginning of June, rivers in the northeast of the country have experienced a difficult situation. According to the latest national hydrological situation bulletin in France, published on June 13 (new window)the deficit situations were dominant in a large northeast part of the country. The data is also disturbing in the West, and in particular in Brittany, where municipalities fear lacking drinking water, since the region mainly depends on these surface resources to supply its inhabitants.

The fact remains that if the drought has settled in France, the country is still far from the drastic restrictions put in place in the face of the emergency in 2022. And slight precipitation is planned in the days coming with a stormy degradation provided for on the western facade of the country. Good news even if Matthieu Sorel reminds us: “If the situation is not for the moment not comparable to 2019 and 2022, it can quickly deteriorate. If we see the return of a heat wave with a long period of heat, the situation can quickly deteriorate, you have to be vigilant”.

2024, the new standard?

The meteorologist also recalls that “In the context of climate change, we expect phenomena of this increasingly important and earlier and earlier in the season.” According to government figures (new window)by 2050, with an increase in temperatures of +2.7 ° C, the accumulation of rains in France could decrease by 10% in summer compared to the period 1976-2005 “Calling longer and more intense droughts of the soil, with an additional 24 days in metropolitan France”.

The extreme episodes of drought will be able to last four to five months in the north of France, see seven in the Mediterranean regions. With warming at +4 ° C in 2100 – the government’s adaptation scenario – it is 39 additional days of drought per year that could occur on average, with periods of up to eight months of dry soil each year in the Mediterranean area.