Less Tramontane (and Mistral) in the future?

01/02/2023

Last week, an article from Météo France drew our attention, which highlights the famous Tramontane which is raging in Occitanie in the south of France and which was shy in 2022. A situation that could become more frequent in the years to come...

As a reminder, the Tramontane is a wind characteristic of Languedoc-Roussillon that blows from the northwest to the southeast. According to Météo France, it blows on average one day out of three in the region, but in 2022, it was particularly discreet with only 90 days of Tramontane in Perpignan and 104 in Narbonne. This year 2022 recorded the lowest number of days since 1981, beating the previous record of 93 days in 1989. Tramontane situations are caused by several meteorological factors such as high pressure positioned over Spain or the Azores high pressure system which overflows the Bay of Biscay. It also blows when northwest to north flows bring cold air to the Mediterranean regions. The Tramontane is often strong and turbulent and can cause gusts up to 140 km/h. It has an impact on vegetation, crops and the balance of the seabed in the region. And it has also made the region famous for windsurfing, kitesurfing and wingfoiling...

According to Météo France, simulations have been carried out with regional and global climate models until 2100, and most of them predict a decrease in the frequency of the Tramontane in the future. It is important to note that the Mistral, another characteristic wind of the south of France, could also be affected by future climate change. In short, climate change could lead to a decrease in the frequency of the Tramontane in the future, and, in turn, of its neighbour, the Mistral.
To console ourselves, we can always say that the advent of the foil is timely in view of these simulations and that the famous Windsurfer LT, revived in 2018, also has a future!

 

Source: Météo France
Photos: Jean Souville/Defiwind.com

tags: Tramontane Mistral

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