The climate of Côte d'Azur (France)
The coastal strip from Saint Tropez up to the French- Italian border
owes her name Côte d’Azur to the azure-blue seawater. This
part of the coast is known for its splendid sunny mediterranean
climate with an average of some three thousand sun hours a year and
temperatures in the summer going up to an average of all but thirty
degrees. For years it is particularly the rich and the jetset
who have been staying here in the period of May up to and including
September. The mundane seaside resort of Cannes attracts
international film stars, television stars and pop stars with the
various international exhibitions of which the Filmfestival is the
best-known. Because the cultivable areas are completely built over the
price of the ground is very high and also the houses,
villas and apartments are expensive. Many rich French, but also
well-to-do foreigners like to buy their second (or third or
something) house in this piece of France. Anyone who stays in this
region feels and sees the wealth, but particularly also the
magnificent luxurious life. As a true god in France you enjoy here the
most delicious fresh fish in restaurants in the atmospheric
harbours or you plunge into the nightlife among the jetset. The
climate surely contributes its mite to the popularity of this
coastal region. The agreeable weather mostly starts already rather
early. Spring mostly starts about the middle of March and in
May the first summery temperatures are already measured. From April
the chances of precipitation already diminish strongly which
makes a stay here a lot more agreeable. In the summer months it is
warm but seldom tóó warm. Temperatures of about forty degrees
can occur but the chance of that is smaller than along the popular
beaches of Spain, Italy, Greece or Turkey. For the guests who
want to keep looking every inch a gentleman or a lady in haute couture
it is really pleasant if it is not tropically warm and
damp.
Winter
The winters along the Côte d’Azur are a lot greyer and wetter than
the rest of the year, but it does not often get cold. Snow can
occur, particularly in the eastern part of the region. Most of the
days the temperature at night stays well above freezing point
and in the daytime the thermometer almost always exceeds 10 degrees.
Mistral
A phenomenon that you can have to deal with during a visit to this
area is the so-called mistral. This is a cold and hard wind
blowing from the north-west through the Rhône-valley to the
Mediterranean Sea. A mistral causes a considerable descent of the
temperature within a few hours and also the temperature of the
seawater drops with a few degrees because the warm toplayer of the
water is blown away through which the colder water from the lower
layers of the sea is sucked upwards. A mistral is caused by large
differences in pressure between the Atlantic Ocean (high pressure) and
the Gulf of Genoa (low pressure). A mistral can sometimes continue for
days and particularly in the summer it is regularly a hit, sometimes
up to 2 or 3 times a month. Along the Côte d’Azur it is particularly
the area west of Fréjus and east of Monaco that is subject to the
mistral. Exceptions are places that, by overgrowth and/or hills, are
sheltered against winds from the north and/or the north-west.
Climate information
The data below is based on registered weather data and applies to
Côte d'Azur:
More climate information
Climate figures are very useful but don’t present a general impression
of the climate and the eventual weather circumstances within a certain
period. The figures don’t always reflect the chance of wintry weather,
extreme heat or hurricanes. That is why we offer useful extra climate
information for each month of the year:
Disclaimer
The information at this site was carefully composed from climate data collected by meteorological services, meteorological offices, climate experts and other sources. “More climate info” is based on statistics, climate data and personal experience. No rights can be derived from this site. Weather has no memory and gives no guaranties. Nothing is as changeable and unpredictable as the weather. The authors of this site feel in no way responsible for any damages caused by misinterpretation or other circumstances that may influence your holiday or trip to a certain destination. We provide information, it’s up to the reader to use it to it’s benefit.
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