The rare weather events experienced by the Paris region in recent days also have repercussions on Morocco during the CAN. Snowy episodes like in the French capital were also observed at the beginning of January near the Middle Atlas mountains, but it is above all the abundant rain which has fallen on the country since the continental competition began on December 21.
Bad weather of notable magnitude since it comes after six years of drought, which reached its peak two years ago. “The 2023-2024 agricultural year was the driest ever recorded since the 1960s, with a rainfall deficit of almost -46.6%, a situation which resulted in a scarcity and irregularity of rains”, explains to Le Parisien – Today in France the General Directorate of Moroccan Meteorology.
Most of the matches took place in the rain, soaking spectators who had taken their seats in uncovered areas in certain stadiums. Others took the opportunity to attend matches without tickets in the most exposed bays, sparsely filled due to the pouring rain, as during the meeting between Tunisia and Uganda at the Olympic Stadium in Rabat on December 23 (3-1).
Heavy rains caused by climate change
At the origin of this almost unprecedented situation, the jet stream (or “jet current” in French), a rapid air current at high altitude. If it usually circulates in the Northern hemisphere, excluding Morocco from its zone of influence, it experiences strong undulations which lead it to affect territories further south. The cause: climate change, which by warming the North Pole reduces the speed of the jet stream. Professor emeritus at the University of Clermont-Auvergne associated with the CNRS Physical Meteorology Laboratory, Andrea Flossmann spins a mechanical metaphor to explain the phenomenon by comparing the jet stream to an engine. “This engine is slowing down, so the possibility increases that certain “arms” of the jet stream escape towards the south,” explains the researcher.
“This leads to torrential rains over long periods,” adds Flossmann, giving as an illustration of these disturbances the floods that occurred in Valencia on October 29 and 30, 2024, which caused 237 victims. Morocco also experienced deadly floods in Safi, a port town located on the Atlantic Coast where at least 37 people died after severe weather on December 14.
If the meeting between Algeria and the DRC this Tuesday afternoon was one of the first in the knockout phase not to take place in the rain, precipitation could resume in Rabat from next Tuesday according to the latest weather forecasts.
