Climate - Montélimar (France)

The climate of Montélimar is generally mild, and can be defined as transitional Mediterranean, with relatively mild winters and hot, sunny summers.
The city is located in the south of France, between Valence and Avignon, in the Drôme department of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. We are in the Rhone valley, where the Mistral often blows, the cold, dry north wind.
The average temperature of the coldest month (January) is of 5.1 °C (41 °F), that of the warmest month (July) is of 23.5 °C (74 °F). Here are the average temperatures.

Precipitation amounts to 905 millimeters (35.6 inches) per year: so, it is at an intermediate level. It ranges from 45 mm (1.8 in) in the driest months (February, March) to 135 mm (5.3 in) in the wettest (October). Autumn is the wettest season, and sometimes heavy rains can occur, but even in spring, you can notice an increase in rainfall. Here is the average precipitation.

The winter is quite mild, with some rainy days and some sunny days.
The mistral blows quite often, increasing the feeling of cold, although generally the temperature is not very low because the air mass comes from the North Atlantic.
But sometimes there can be periods of intense cold, when cold air arrives from Russia or the Arctic regions. Snow is rare, but once every few years on average, there is a fairly heavy snowfall.
Even in these cases, it is rare for the temperature to drop to very low values, but sometimes it can happen. The temperature dropped to -15 °C (5 °F) in February 1956, to -14.5 °C (6 °F) in January 1971, to -12 °C (10.5 °F) in January 1985, to -9 °C (16 °F) in February 1986, to -11 °C (12 °F) in January 1987, to -7.5 °C (18.5 °F) in March 2005 and in December 2009, and to -8 °C (17.5 °F) in February 2012.
The summer is hot and sunny, with some rains or thunderstorms. The lower Rhone valley is the area that is the hottest in France in summer (where the highs reach an average of 30 °C or 86 °F).
The Mistral blows less often than in other seasons, and even when it does, it is not necessarily particularly cool.
On the hottest days of the year it can reach 36/38 °C (97/100 °F), and more rarely, higher values. The temperature reached 39.5 °C (103 °F) in July 1982, 39 °C (102 °F) in July 1983, 38 °C (100.5 °F) in June 2003, 41 °C (106 °F) (record) in August 2003, 40 °C (104 °F) in June 2019, and 39.5 °C (103 °F) in July 2019.



On average, there are around 2,400 sunshine hours per year. The amount of sunshine is very good in summer (when sunny days prevail), but it is also acceptable in winter. Here are the average sunshine hours per day.

Best Time

The best time to visit Montélimar is spring, from mid-April to mid-June. September is also a good month, but it is quite rainy. Summer, from mid-June to August, can be hot, even though it's the best time for those who also want to go to the beach. Winter is generally mild, but it can sometimes get cold and it can rain.