The Loire has particularly low depths for the season due to the lack of rain in recent weeks. At several levels of the river, sandbanks and usually submerged banks are visible.
The wave of drought experienced by France this winter has not spared the Loire. The longest French river is experiencing particularly low levels for the season and for good reason: France has experienced a historic series of 32 days without rain, extending in particular over almost the entire month of February. Areas usually submerged at this time of year are thus out of the water at several levels of the 1000 kilometers of the river.
The Loire has been directly affected by the low rainfall in recent weeks and has thus recorded its “lowest levels for the month of February since 1992”, explains DREAL hydrologist Matthieu Nicolas to Télénantes. Especially since the drought of the summer of 2022 had already affected the depth of the river.
Historically low levels for the season
Loire levels were plummeting for the duration of the rainless period until last weekend’s rainfall according to EauFrance, the public water information service. But as the weather has become dry again in recent days, the downward trend resumes.
Thus, in Orleans, the level of the river fell below one meter deep, even approaching 80 centimeters, revealing sandbanks in many places. A particularly low level for the start of the year only equaled twice in the last 15 years, according to data compiled by EauFrance. The flow of the Loire is also the second lowest recorded in 20 years during this period.
Very low levels were also recorded further downstream, such as in Montjean-sur-Loire, near Angers. There, too, many sandbanks emerged in an unusual way for the season, with levels matching those of 2016, again the most in more than 15 years.
These very low levels could continue to drop if heavy rains do not fill the lack of water in the River. A wave of precipitation could sweep France early next week, especially on Tuesday, according to Meteo-France forecasts.
