Weather in South West ... central France

20 cm of snow here :cold_face:

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So no travelling over the next few days then Mark?

Was frosty early on and we just had a very light shower of sleet here in SE 47.

We left at lunchtime, staying overnight in Tours. The only real snow was in southern Creuse. We will be in Villedieu early afternoon I would think

Beer o’clock :beer::beer:

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This was from our front door this morning :snowflake::cloud_with_snow:

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We spent much of last May and September here in the Lot last year.
The weather was mostly dry with temperatures in the mid twenties.
This year we arrived in April and we’re here till the end of May.
We’re actually seeing very similar weather forecasts back in Shropshire with no immediate signs of change here. Not spoiling our time here but it’s a bit surprising and I know rain is needed. The low temperatures are disappointing though. I imagine ‘normal’ if such a thing still exists is something in between last year and this. Think we need to do more walks to benefit from cooler days.

Quite frankly there is no “normal” - In the 16 years we’ve been here (Lot et Garonne) some Mays, the temperatures have been in the upper 20s and our roses have gone over in a day. Other years the temperatures have been in the low teens and it’s rained most of the month and our roses have been soggy and bedraggled. This year, nearly perfect, mixture of rain (which we desperately need) and sunshine, temperatures teens to low twenties. The roses love it.

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My wife and I have noticed that we have never seen roses like it this year - they have grown to huge plants absolutely covered with flowers.

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Unfortunately so do the weeds! :slightly_frowning_face:

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Interestingly, round here I think it’s because last year was so cruel - very late frost then drought for months and high temperatures. I couldn’t afford to water any of the borders. What water I had went on pots round the gite. By the end of the summer many of our roses, trees and bushes looked very sad, having lost lots of leaves. I’ve been very gentle with everything this spring (hardly any pruning) and we’ve been very lucky to have plenty of rain and the temperatures are quite cool. The roses (and our fruit trees) have just loved it. :grin:

We were a bit shocked at how closely the weather in Autun and Cussy mirrored the weather in Somerton, pretty much to within a degree most days. A reason we bought south of the Loire was for warmer weather - should have checked forecasts over a couple of years!

This was Oxford centre on Monday night.
Rain in the city by Anton Ertl, on Flickr

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It is the ice saints right now so normal for it to be very cold. Blame Saints Pancras, Servatius and Boniface. There’s another one but he may be interchangeable with Pancras and sometimes people add St Sophie on too.

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Think there’s a considerable divergence of opinion here between unfortunate disappointed non-residents and happy gardeners who are grateful for the rain bonus.

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I’d like to send the rain further South to those that need it more than we do :cloud_with_rain::umbrella::snail::grinning:.
A couple of weeks ago I drove from Burgundy to the Basque Country, from Clermont Ferrand to Bordeaux I’ve never seen the river’s so low.

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Watch out for Saint Swithun too.

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Those living here know heat will come. Those returning to the UK have little certainty.

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Thank you for thinking of us right down here in the scorched PO Another big fire last night at StCyprien/Sainte André with the tramontine wind blowing hard since sunday night again. Agriculteurs are angry that camp sites are being allowed to have pools for use when they are near to losing their livelihoods and we have the threat of drinking water being restricted if it carries on and people won’t be happy if holidaymakers add to the misery either. Every forecast so far for rain has failed.

I don’t think we’ve had such a wet spring. since we arrived in 24 8 years ago Garden wise as @DrMarkH said it is amazing! We still insist on our apero on the terrace but we got soggy tonight even with the parasol up!“ I’d also love to send some of it to @Shiba

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As I said a few days ago, forecast here in 11 is for 13 straight days of rain, and I’m really not unhappy about that. Just wish we could send some of it down to @Shiba in the PO, it’s not very far from here.
Forecast today was just for showers, but it’s absolutely pi**ed it down. I’ll go up to the reservoir on Sunday to see if it’s done any good, as the previous rains didn’t seem to make any difference.

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Definitely two sides to this.

We’ve just returned from 2 fairly wet weeks in Ireland. Part vacation/ part touring universities for our eldest. UK Universities are unfortunately out of the EU and definitely outside our budget as Cypriot/ EU citizens.

My wife was very happy to find the garden in full bloom. Vegetables, flowers and fruit trees. On top of that we’ve having a very wet week since, down here in Colomiers, Toulouse Métropole !
Regards,

Ulysses