[nicko31]

Decided to go there on holiday next year. Perplexed to find that this area of France near La Rochelle gets around 2500 hours of sun, around the same as the Med. Yet areas further south from Bordeaux (also on the Atlantic) gets quite a bit less. Does anyone know why is phenonomen exists, its not like its in some big rain shadow...

[Ian Williams]

nicko31, on 17 January 2012 - 21:20, said:

Decided to go there on holiday next year. Perplexed to find that this area of France near La Rochelle gets around 2500 hours of sun, around the same as the Med. Yet areas further south from Bordeaux (also on the Atlantic) gets quite a bit less. Does anyone know why is phenonomen exists, its not like its in some big rain shadow...

Not sure where you got La Rochelle sunshine figures from but they do not look right, actual figures from meteo-france show the sunshine hours to be alot less and more closer to Bordeaux. Bordeaux is much wetter though


http://climat.meteof...ales%252FFRANCE

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[BUTTERFLY]

Perhaps you should go to Nice, as it has a "nice" climate! I don't have the figures to hand, but in a book I have which lists weather statistics from sites right round the world, it came out as having high sunshine, reasonably low rainfall (and on a relatively low number of days), with warm but not excessively high temperatures and no very low winter temperatures. Different people will of course have different ideas of what constitutes the ideal climate anyway (and probably the same person will have different opinions at different stages of their life).

[DG57]

http://www.meteopass...ment-annuel.php

Hi,

Actually, the more you go to the South, the more you have sunshine. This is true, from Brittany down to the Charente-Maritime, but, after the Gironde coast, as you head to the Pyrenees, you get less sun. In fact, if there weren't the Pyrenees and the Iberian Peninsula, you would continued to get more sun by going further south.

I hope this answers the question.

[DG57]

For more comprehension :

More and more sunshine as you head to Royan and Saint-Palais-sur-Mer, less and less sunshine after Royan and Saint-Palais-sur-Mer and going toward the Pyrenees.

Besides, this coast is named "Côte de Lumière", which means "Coast of Light".

[BUTTERFLY]

The book "The Weather of Britain" by Robin Stirling (Faber & Faber 1982) states (in Table 41) on page 242 that during the period 1931-1960, the temperature at Nice varied from +35.8 deg. C. to -4.6 deg. C. (during this time, Britain would have recorded a higher temperature only in 1932, when 36.1 deg. c. was reported on 19th August at several places around London, etc, otherwise the highest was 35.6 deg. C. on 29th June 1957 at Camden Square, London - see http://www.personal....ottest_days.htm). The average rainfall during this period was 862 mm, on ly 86 days having 0.1 mm or more, and the average sunshine was 2775 hours, averaging 7.6 hours/day (62% of possible). This is the highest annual total shown for 11 sites in France in the table, with Marseille being the next sunniest at 2654 hours (59% of possible), followed by Perpignan with 2560 hours (595 of possible); Cherbourg has the lowest value at 1608 hours (36% of possible). Rainfall at the 11 sites varies from 546 mm at Marseille to 931 mm at Cherbourg (I presume all the sites are more or less lowland and that mountainous regions of France have a much higher rainfall). Although the values are only listed for 4 sites, Nice has only 32 days without sun which was bettered only by Perpignan with 23 although Nice wins out for overall sunshine. Nice is bettered for low number of days with 0.1 mm or more only by 80 at Marseille and 85 at Perpignan. All sites except Nice and Cherbourg (-10.0 deg. C.) have recorded below -10 deg. C. (Dinard and perpignan both -11.0 deg. C., lowest -22.2 deg. C. at Strasbourg and -21.7 deg. C. at Limoges). During the 1931-1960 period, Britain's lowest temperature was -25.0 deg. C. on 23rd February 1955 at Braemar and it also recorded below -20 deg. C. in 1937, 1940, 1941, 1947, 1958 and 1960, with -20.0 deg. C. in 1954.

Another book called "Weather to Travel", "presented" by Maria Harding (Tomorrow's Guides, 2001)shows average daily sunshine varying from 5 hours from November to February to 11 hours in July and 10 in June and August. From June to September, it is "hot but comfortable" and in all other months "comfortable". Average daily maxima and minima for each month in deg. C. at Nice are; JAN 13/5; FEB 13/6; MAR 15/7; APRIL 17/10; MAY 20/13; JUNE 23/16; JULY 26/19; AUG 27/19; SEP 24/17; OCT 20/13; NOV 16/9; DEC 14/6. It is basically as if the average temperatures of the warmest examples of each month at the warmest places in Southern England were on average occuring or being exceeded, but with even more sunshine. Rainfall is as follows; JAN 83 FEB 76 MAR 71 APR 62 MAY 49 JUNE 37 JULY 16 AUG 31 SEP 54 OCT 108 NOV 104 DEC 78; overall somewhat wetter than the drier parts of Southern England, though drier in high summer and wetter in autumn and winter. It seems like a very pleasant climate with abundant sunshine, rain throughout the year, and no excessively high or low temperatures, but reliably warm from spring through to autumn.

I do not work for the French Tourist Board by the way!

[HSEA2]

nicko31, on 17 January 2012 - 21:20, said:

Decided to go there on holiday next year. Perplexed to find that this area of France near La Rochelle gets around 2500 hours of sun, around the same as the Med. Yet areas further south from Bordeaux (also on the Atlantic) gets quite a bit less. Does anyone know why is phenonomen exists, its not like its in some big rain shadow...

North coast of Spain isnt all that sunny (or that warm either!) caused by sea fog, so id assume the area south of Bordeaux is liable to that too.

Went with the parents on a family holiday to the La Rochelle area, and FWIW it was hot and sunny all the time (Although admittedly it was summer 1995 when it was hot and sunny all the time in England too )