Definition: Climate

After examining this data, which has been extensively used by climate historian Emmanuel Leroy-Ladurie (2), researchers from the CNRS, the CEA and the National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) identified several periods of intense heat between 1370 and 2003. This was the case during the period commonly referred to as the "Little Ice Age" (from^{the 14th} to the^mid-17th century), such as in 1380, when the temperature rose 0.72°C above that of the reference period (1960 to 1989), and in 1420 (+0.57°C). Conversely, the mid-1430s to the late 1450s were characterised by years of severe cold (-0.45°C). Then, around 1520 and between 1630 and 1680, it was as warm as it has been over the last decade. However, 2003 stands out as by far the hottest year ever recorded in Burgundy, with an anomaly of +5.86°C, 43% higher than the previous record, set in 1523 (+4.10°C).

(1) Nature, 18 November 2004. (2) Histoire humaine et comparée du climat, canicules et glaciers,^{XIIIe -XVIIIe} siècles (A Human and Comparative History of Climate, Heatwaves and Glaciers, 13th-18th Centuries), Fayard, 2004.

Le Figaro 20/11/2004 (Caroline de Malet).