Record-Breaking Rain & Gloom In Northern France, Meanwhile, Med. Dry As Toast - AFP

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It's official: France's rainy, grey and generally cold summer has been the worst for the past 30 years, the weather service said Friday. July and August were wet across two-thirds of the country while the Mediterranean region was too dry, said Frederic Nathan, meteorologist at Meteo France. "Yes we can say that it was a rotten summer," said Nathan. But the summers of 1954 and 1977 were worse, he added.

Rainfall in northwestern France reached record levels, with cities like Le Havre registering 21 days of rain in July, beating the previous record of 16 in 1980.

In the northern city of Caen in Normandy, the weather service registered 592 hours of sunshine from May 1st to August 21, well below the average of 809 hours.

Temperatures on the Atlantic coast have been on average two or three degrees below seasonal averages, said Jean-Marc Le Gallic from Meteo France. French chat shows have featured experts who are predicting a spike in the number of cases of depression due to a lack of sun exposure.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/2007/070824142358.pnacn9vn.html