The Paris 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony was quite the unique spectacle. Instead of the classic climate-controlled stadium performance, France has decided to use the beautiful architecture and pseudo-natural landscape of Paris itself. So much so, that the weather itself wanted its time to shine in the show. 

Now Paris’ summer is not a stranger to rain and storms, as we mentioned earlier this week. But spectators were not too fond with the rainfall timing as it started to hammer down later in the ceremony as the 6800 athletes floated down the Seine River. But that was not going to stop thousands of supporters crowd the banks of the river cheering their country as their boat floats by. 

Paris saw approximately 10mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours, with maximum falls of 4.4mm/hr last evening between 9pm and 10pm. The radar is still showing showers on the horizon for Paris as it continues to rain into the early hours of Saturday morning. 

Fig. 1) Radar of France at 5:25am local time showing the passage of a rainband across the country, including Paris. 

Now the rain does not look like it is going to stop anytime in the next few hours. In fact, Meteo France has issued a rain-flood warning for Paris until 8pm local time on the 27th of July. This means that rain is looking to persist as the celebrations continue and athletes compete for the win. Let us hope our canoers and rowers can manage the outdoor pour (though luckily winds and river heights are not looking bad so the water should not be choppy for our champions).  

Fig. 2) Rain-flood warning issued by Meteo France for different French forecast districts from 4:02pm 26/07/2024 (valid to 12:00am 28/07/2024), including Paris (Meteo France, 2024) 

Now the good news is that after this rainfall, it is going to be nice and dry in Paris at the start of the week. Rainfall is not expected until late Tuesday evening/early Wednesday morning with a seasonal thunderstorm crossing through. With luck, our Aussie team should have one less thing to look out for as they do their best this week, as Paris’ weather remains dry through the days ahead, with showers, if any, falling through the night. But no promises for next week...