France - weather in January

In January, the central month of winter, 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.

January in France is generally the coldest month of the year. In the north, the average daily temperature decreases towards the east, in fact it is 7 °C (45 °F) in Brest, on the coast of Brittany, 4.5 °C (40 °F) in Paris, and 2/3 °C (36/37 °F) in the north-east, in Lorraine and Alsace (see Metz, Strasbourg).
In the south, the average temperature is 8.5 °C (47 °F) in Biarritz and Bayonne, on the Atlantic coast near the border with Spain, 7.5 °C (46 °F) in Montpellier and Marseille, on the coast of the Gulf of Lion, and reaches up to 9.5 °C (49 °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 is generally more abundant, and 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 and a half hours a day or more), considering the length of the days.

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

During cold waves, which are becoming rarer due to global warming, it can snow, usually not much, in Paris and 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.

The days are still among the shortest of the year, however, their length gradually increases during the month. In January, the day in France lasts on average 8 and a half hours in the north and 9 and a half hours in the south.

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

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Monthly climate averages - January

(from north to south)



















See also: France, the weather in December - February
The climate of France