Weather in South West ... central France

The first ever house we considered viewing was in the Black Mountains, sadly when we went to check the village before wasting the agents time we discovered it was on the edge of an open gold mine!!! Ended up the other side of the valley, heading towards Mirepoix from Castel’. I do miss the proper south, when we last went back for a visit my heart soared with the first row of trees either side of the road. :heart_eyes: :heart_eyes: Would probably have gone back if it wasn’t for the bloody wind!

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We have rows of trees either side of the road all over the place!

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You were maybe lucky that the road was still open.
I had my only road accident in France, whilst going to work in Carca, one very cold January morning.
The road was one sheet of ice, right across its width.
I now refuse to cross the mountain if I have the slightest doubt about the state of the road.

There are some very beautiful places up there, but I’d rather wait until Summer to visit

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So the south gets very windy?

Thank you all very much for sharing your knowledge and experience, it’s really helpful. This site has so much information, it’s invaluable. When the travel restrictions are lifted and it’s safe, we will start our new adventure by checking out some different regions.

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We have had snow on two days.
Bright sunshine now and all snow going.

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The Aude is renowned for the wind it is called the ‘Marin’ as it blows through the valley from the Atlantic to the Med. It is bad enough that it was one of the things on the list when we were deciding to move back here from Oz if we would go back there or not. There is a saying as well - something like : if it blows on the 2nd day it will blow for 4, if it blows on the 5th it will blow for 7 if it blows on the 8th it will blow for 11. I’d last about 2 or 3 days before staying inside - drove me nuts and there really were times it blew for 11!

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Luckily the road was clear but the trees were snow covered. Sadly I didn’t have a camera with me otherwise I would have stopped to take some photos. This was before I had a phone with a camera!
Izzy x

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There is a “wind corridor” which runs Southeast from Toulouse via Carcassonne to Narbonne. The wind howls down it regularly. Local lore says that lovely though the area is, it’s best avoided if you don’t like hard blow.

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Tory, you’re talking about the tramontane, the marin blows in the opposite direction and once it’s dried out it becomes l’autan when it gets over la montagne noire and hits us! I love the area, have family in Carca but don’t like the constant wind tunnel effect. Oh and the “how many days rule” seems to have gone totally to pot with climate change!

Philip, not everywhere, you just need to have a look at some of météo france’s info, some areas here are very calm. There are so many variables that you need to give more info of where you’re looking as there are big differences even within a département, let alone a région (or several as you’ve said south west).

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Quite, I read somewhere that it’s the second windiest place in Europe after the north of Scotland!

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The Mistral which blows down the Rhone Valley is said to send people mad!

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Yep, I can confirm that, did my maîtrise in Aix-en-Provence and although it is relatively sheltered there, the mistral is a real pain (although it does guaranty sunny weather!). The Tramontane is often mistaken for the Mistral as they are very similar just geographically different.

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It is funny. Most people will favour their own region for a variety of reasons - of course they chose to live there and so we are all biased, and you will find people here from every region, so in a sense it is impossible to have an unbiased view.

We are in Charente-Maritime, about 10km from the coast and it always amuses me how many people cite a massive area of SW France as having the 2nd highest amount of sun in France, after the Cote d’Azur. In fact this is true for an area that encompasses the Isles de Re and Oleron and a very narrow coastal strip near there. I reckon actually, that at 10km we are possibly just outside that strip but close enough to get many of the benefits and, of course, to spend 10 minutes in the car to get more sun.

There is still plenty enough sun for us and we use our pool 5-6 months of the year without heating it. As for the storms, I don’t think they are any worse than further inland and of course the modifying effect of the sea being nearby means that it is cooler in summer and warmer in winter than places further inland. Being this distance away from the coast also means that we can take advantage of the tourist infrastructure when we want or pretend it is not there if we want a quieter life. Our village is very rural but also an active dormitory area with the benefit that our local school and commerce are expanding rather than declining, as sadly happens so often these days.

Negatives? Well, when we travel further inland we do realise that the coastal area is not as deeply historic as some places in France and I do miss that a bit. Saintes is a lovely Roman town and there are still some mediaeval villages around us but there are other parts where you can’t walk for 5 minutes without feeling the history and I don’t feel that here, TBH. And it is a bit flat and with fewer trees so not exactly “France Profond” but still fertile.

So we won’t be moving away from here in a hurry, but I am sure most other people would say that about their very different locations too, and I do appreciate what they have on their doorsteps and we haven’t.

But the weather I would say is better everywhere in the SW than in the UK. We have all had a very damp end to winter so that is uppermost in our minds right now and I am glad to be starting to be able to walk without wellingtons once again. But these extremes happen everywhere and I think the recent flooding, although bad in places, was not as bad as in the UK. If we ever do go back I promise you it won’t be for the weather!

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Could this be in respect of the infra-stucture do you think? Here in the Charente the local farmers keep the ditches clear which must assist in keeping things moving…

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I don’t know, it is not something I know anything about. That doesn’t normally stop me from having an opinion, though. My guess is it is more to do with the size and topography of France and the fact that building on floodplains is much less prevalent, simply because there is more land to go around. We certainly had a lot of flooding in this area, but the number of settlements flooded were much fewer than seems to have been the case in the UK. And the reverse migration from cities to the countryside is not as common here. As for better river management - maybe in some cases but I am not so sure it is true generally.

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Re ditches, we’ve certainly noticed that the farmers and Mairies round here (Herault) are super-diligent about clearing them, every year. And yes rivers do flood, but there often seems to be some unauthorised human intervention as a partial cause. I think people are just more flood-aware and know they have a common duty to work to prevent it.

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Hi Philip,
We’re in the north of Haute-Vienne and similar to you re weather preferences. We find this area works well for us & our dog. Hot in summer but cool enough to sleep comfortably most nights. Not too windy most of the time so I can cycle comfortably and the small hills offer shelter from the cold northerly winds.
Not many pine forests so much safer for our dog from the processionary caterpillars.
Lots of very quiet walking trails so less chance of catching Covid.
Property is really cheap leaving enough cash to buy a motorhome to get away to Spain for the winter. This winter we had 6 days with a little snow on the ground. Not enough for a snowman though.
High speed broadband just arrived in a neighboring town too.

Happy to help answer any other questions you may have.

Good luck with your move,

R

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Hello Philip. You have had lots of weather replies since that is what you asked. In thinking of locations particularly rural ones, check out the medical facilities. There are many rural communes now devoid of GPs and even where there are incumbents, many are so overloaded they will not take on more patients. Research also the local hospital coverage and effectiveness. Good luck with your search.

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and also internet speed / fibre availability plus mobile phone signal strength.

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