Climate - Valence (France)

The climate of Valence can be defined as transitional Mediterranean, since the winters are quite cold, while the summers are hot and sunny.
Valence is located in the south of France, in the Rhone valley, and is capital of the Drôme department, in the historical region of Dauphiné.
We are in a transition zone between the Mediterranean world and the interior of France, and also in the area where the Mistral begins to blow, the cold and dry north wind.
The average temperature of the coldest month (January) is of 3.9 °C (39 °F), that of the warmest month (July) is of 22.2 °C (72 °F). Here are the average temperatures.

Precipitation amounts to 870 millimeters (34.3 inches) per year: so, it is at an intermediate level. It ranges from 40 mm (1.6 in) in the driest month (February) to 115 mm (4.5 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 cold, with some rainy days and some sunny days. However, there may be relatively mild periods as well.
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. Very rarely, and only in the coldest winters, the temperature drops below -10 °C (14 °F). The coldest record is -20.6 °C (-5.1 °F) and was set in January 1971.
The summer is hot and sunny, with some rains or thunderstorms.
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 35/36 °C (95/97 °F), and more rarely, higher values. The highest record is 40.5 °C (104.9 °F) and was set in August 2003.



On average, there are around 2,520 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 Valence 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. Winter is generally mild, but it can sometimes get cold and it can rain.