South of France

May 2008, and a few days of exceptionally heavy rain led to a great deal of flooding and damage in the Dordogne and surrounding areas. The picture shows the road, with the tops of fence posts just visible.

Luckily the poor weather tends to pass quickly, but this type of flooding can occur at any time of the year (this years was the worst for 20 years) disrupting traffic and isolating towns and villages for a day or two.

The south of France has a mild - warm climate, with different characteristics in the east and west of the region.

Weather in south-east France and the Mediterranean

Along the coast of the Mediterranean, in Provence and Languedoc Roussillon, the climate is typically Mediterranean! During the summer the days are hot and sunny and rain infrequent. The winters tend to be quite short and mild.

This region of France has more days of sunshine than any other in the country (excluding Corsica).

A strong northerly wind, the mistral, frequently blows through the region, and can cause periods of cold windy weather even as late as the end of spring.

Thunderstorms are very common in the summer in south-east France.

Weather in south-west France and the Atlantic Coast

This region tends to have generally mild winters and warm-hot summers. However exceptions to the rule are not uncommon - winters can have very cold spells, and even in the height of summer it is possible to have cooler wetter weather from time to time.

Although summers tend to be dry, all year round the region gets more rain than south-east France, being brought in from the Atlantic ocean. This explains why the region produces fruit so effectively - the combination of warm yet occasionally damp weather is ideal for producing many crops.

Thunderstorms are also common here during the summer though less often than in the eastern part of the region.