Can You Please Help Me With Some Weather Research?!!

[ali-cat]

Hi all,

I have been checking the weather in South Charente & Northern Aquitaine for a while - but it would be brilliant to hear from you folks who are actually living there!!  Can you let me know what the various seasons are like?  Hot hot does it usually get, how wet & just how cold can the winters be?

The internet & books are great, as a general guide - but as they usually clump all of Aquitaine in together, they are not detailed enough about the different areas.

PLEASE tell me where you live & what it's like - I not to proud to beg!!  PLEASE!!

[La Vette]

Living close to Bergerac.  24 degrees yesterday and 22 this morning but clouding over and expected to rain for most of next week.  However, rain was forecast for yesterday and husband has a sunburnt face.

 

[Miki]

In summer it can be extremely hot, in Spring, Winter and sometimes

Autumn, extremely wet at times and extremely cold in Winter. Very

varied and

it surprises many new folks how  varied the seasonal temperatures

can become. Winters can be damp and grey long with periods of sunshine

to at least offer hope of what spring and summer has to offer ! Not the

place to move to if more temperate weather is a  strong point for

moving there but compared to some places in the UK, quite acceptable I

would think but not to everyone.

[Clarkkent]

Geographical reply. Look at the situation maps on tv weather reports and consider the size of Atlantic depressions - they can spread from Norway to Spain.

SW France is subject to the same climatic conditions as the British Isles because it is in the same climatic region. Therefore you can expect similar rainfall levels (why do you think all the grass is so green?) and the same unpredictability in weather.

In winter it can be cold and damp and foggy. However, because it is further south, average temperatures in spring, summer and autumn are going to be rather higher than in Britain.

One consequence of this is that it can be very humid in summer.

My maison secondaire is in Lot-et-Garonne, which being inland possibly has greater variation in temperature than somewhere nearer the coast. The Garonne valley is frequently the second warmest area in France after the Mediterranean. However, during anticyclonic periods in winter, night temperatures have dropped to -10 and even lower.

Some neighbours of mine have moved back to Britain after 5 years. They certainly didn't like the winters (if only because the village was deserted) but they couldn't stand stand the summer humidity.

[Maddie]

Tricky one to help you with as many of us, I suspect, live in areas with specific micro-climates. I know the weather where I am can vary hugely to the weather someone else is getting just 5 miles down the road!