France - weather in December

In December, the first winter month, the weather in France is moderately cold in the inland areas, especially in the eastern part, while it is quite mild on the Atlantic coast. In the south, on the Mediterranean coast and in Corsica, the weather is even milder.
At high altitudes, in the Alps, in the Pyrenees and on the peaks of other mountain ranges, on the other hand, there is a cold mountain climate.

In the north, the average daily temperature decreases towards the east, in fact it is 7.5 °C (46 °F) in Brest, on the coast of Brittany, 5 °C (41 °F) in Paris, and 3/4 °C (37/39 °F) in the north-east, in Lorraine and Alsace (see Metz, Strasbourg).
In the south, the average temperature is 9.5 °C (49 °F) in Biarritz and Bayonne, on the Atlantic coast near the border with Spain, 8.5 °C (47 °F) in Montpellier and Marseille, on the coast of the Gulf of Lion, and reaches up to 10.5 °C (51 °F) in Nice, on the French Riviera, and in Ajaccio, in Corsica.

Precipitation is frequent on the west coast, and sometimes abundant, with a maximum in Brittany. In the rest of the country it is generally moderate. The least rainy area is, in the south, the Mediterranean coast (see Perpignan, Marseille, Nice).
In the mountains, precipitation occurs in the form of snow. There are also mountain resorts where you can ski.

The sun is rarely seen in the north, where the sky is often cloudy. In the south, on the contrary, there is a fair amount of sunshine: on average, 4 hours a day or more, not a few if you consider the length of the days.

France is a fairly windy country. In the north, in Brittany and Normandy, and more rarely in the southwest, on the Bay of Biscay, the wind can blow from the Atlantic Ocean, sometimes in the form of storms, while in the south, in the Rhone Valley and on the coast, the mistral and the tramontane can blow, cold and dry winds that rush to the Mediterranean Sea.

During cold waves, which are more likely in January and February, and which are becoming rarer due to global warming, it can snow, usually not much, in Paris and in the inland areas, and the temperature can drop to -10 °C (14 °F), and sometimes below. On the coasts, on the Atlantic and even more so on the Mediterranean, frosts are rare, especially in the south-east, on the French Riviera, where they almost never occur.

During the month, the length of the days gradually decreases until December 21, the winter solstice, which is the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. In December, the day in France lasts on average 8 hours in the north and 9 hours in the south.

The following tables show the climate averages in the month of December in France in a selection of locations.

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Monthly climate averages - December

(from north to south)



















See also: France, the weather in November - January
The climate of France