Category Archives: Weather

Bonne Année 2020. Weather Roundup for 2019

Posted on 13/01/2020 by

First, belated Meilleurs Voeux. Every time we go into the village, we are greeted with enthusiastic kisses and handshakes from acquaintances and good wishes for 2020, “surtout pour la santé” – above all for good health. This will continue until … Continue reading →

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Drought in Southwest France

Posted on 14/07/2019 by

First, let me wish you a joyeux Quatorze Juillet. Today is la Fête Nationale in France and one of the most important holidays in the calendar. Today is sunny and hot. In previous years, we have been known to light … Continue reading →

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Five French Weather Phrases

Posted on 20/01/2019 by

The Brits have a reputation for talking about the weather. Hardly a surprise, since you can experience four different seasons in one day in parts of the UK. It was a surprise to us initially that French people also talk … Continue reading →

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Canicule: the Dog Days of Summer

Posted on 30/07/2018 by

It’s either a famine or a feast. We spent the winter and most of the spring grumbling about all the rain; now we’re taking refuge from the heat. Much of the northern hemisphere is experiencing unprecedented levels of heatwave: notably … Continue reading →

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Cuckoos and Winter Weather 2017-18

Posted on 02/04/2018 by

If you live almost anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere, you don’t need me to tell you that it has been a dismal, gloomy winter. The technical reason, apparently, is a “heatwave” in the Arctic, which has pushed the Arctic Jet … Continue reading →

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All Aboard le “Moscou-Paris”

Posted on 25/02/2018 by

It sounds rather like a jolly luxury express, doesn’t it? A competitor, perhaps, to the Orient Express, with starched white tablecloths, gleaming silverware and sycophantic stewards. If only it were. In fact, le “Moscou-Paris” is the meteorologists’ nickname for a … Continue reading →

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The End of Summer

Posted on 09/10/2017 by

Autumn is now truly upon us. We have had some lovely, warm days recently, but as soon as the sun dips under the horizon the air cools quickly. Some mornings, the temperature has been close to 0 degrees C already. … Continue reading →

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Summer’s Lease Hath All Too Short a Date: La Rentrée

Posted on 05/09/2017 by

Yesterday, the summer holidays ended in France as children went back to school, people packed away their holiday gear for another year and workers prepared themselves for the routine of métro, boulot, dodo (subway, work, sleep). The eight weeks or … Continue reading →

Posted in French life, Weather | Tagged , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Can Spring be far Behind?

Posted on 12/03/2017 by

The literary-minded will notice that the title is a quotation from Percy Bysshe Shelley’s ‘Ode to the West Wind’, written in 1819 while the poet was staying in Florence. The poem can be interpreted in various ways, the most simplistic … Continue reading →

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2017 Preview and 2016 Weather Roundup

Posted on 08/01/2017 by

Bonne année, Meilleurs Vœux. Wishing you a happy and peaceful year and a better one for the world in general. Welcome to Life on La Lune 2017. This is a particularly special year for me and the SF (Statistics Freak … Continue reading →

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2016 Summer Weather in SW France: the Verdict

Posted on 10/10/2016 by

Yesterday, we did one of our favourite walks. It takes in the ruined Château de Labro, and goes up and down the wooded slopes of the secluded Seye Valley. We walked under luminous blue skies with barely a cloud. There … Continue reading →

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Drought in Southwest France

Posted on 07/09/2016 by

  We spent the first six months of this year complaining that we had too much rain. Now we’re complaining that we are having too little. It has barely rained for about six weeks and the weather has been dry, … Continue reading →

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Summer Arrives at Last in SW France

Posted on 18/07/2016 by

  C’est l’été and the weather has finally caught up with the calendar. We’ve had wall-to-wall blue skies and hot sunshine for the past few days. This was a particularly good thing this weekend, since we sang in a concert … Continue reading →

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Badgers in the Bush?

Posted on 10/04/2016 by

Like most people, we have a part of our garden of which we are less than proud. It’s where we dump grass cuttings, leaves and other garden rubbish that we don’t put in the compost bins. Fortunately, it’s shielded by … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature, Weather | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Where Have All the Small Birds Gone?

Posted on 06/03/2016 by

Yesterday, we stopped by our retired farmer neighbour’s place for a chat. We remarked that it would be only a matter of weeks before the cuckoo, the first of the migratory birds, arrives. We love hearing that piping sound, which … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature, Weather | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Unwintry Winter

Posted on 07/02/2016 by

I took this shot of a red squirrel four years ago, in February 2012, when we had two weeks of temperatures well below zero and snow as well. Our lane was like an ice-rink, it took 10 minutes to warm … Continue reading →

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Bonne Année and December’s Weather

Posted on 05/01/2016 by

First, bonne année to everyone. I hope you had an enjoyable and relaxing Christmas. We are having a dry January – no, not the weather, which is the opposite. Rather, we’re not imbibing any alcohol, except the odd glass if … Continue reading →

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Sunflowers in November

Posted on 03/12/2015 by

There’s a French expression, “C’est un vrai temps de Toussaint” (it’s real All Saints’ Day weather). This means that the weather on November 1st is cold, damp, murky and unpleasant. And it often is. This year bucked the trend and … Continue reading →

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When the Weather is Springlike in Autumn

Posted on 06/11/2015 by

I’m in the throes of the literary lunacy called National Novel Writing Month, and creating my second Corsica novel. This is not an easy task and it is made doubly difficult by the phenomenally warm weather we have experienced during the … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature, Weather | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

SW France Summer Weather 2015

Posted on 07/10/2015 by

We had a great holiday on Corsica a couple of weeks ago. And it was a good thing we went then, because we had nice weather for the most part. One week later and it would have been quite different: … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature, Weather | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Preparing for Winter

Posted on 09/09/2015 by

This might seem a little premature. After all, we’re only in early September and it’s still summer officially. But heating these old stone houses has to be taken very seriously. The summers can be blisteringly hot here in SW France, … Continue reading →

Posted in French life, Weather | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Weathering the Storm

Posted on 03/09/2015 by

  August went out like a lion with one of the most damaging storms we have experienced for several years. The thunder and lightning were not especially violent, but the wind was, gusting up to 150 kph in places. We … Continue reading →

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Drought and Southwest France Weather July 2015

Posted on 02/08/2015 by

I have been reminded yet again this summer of how tough life must have been for the people who lived in our house up until the 1960s, when mains water was installed. Our property has two citernes (water-collecting cisterns) and … Continue reading →

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Teysseroles Fête and SW France Weather June 2015

Posted on 05/07/2015 by

We scanned the weather forecast nervously during the 10 days leading up to our annual fête at Teysseroles, the 15th-century chapel we are helping to restore. The last thing we wanted was to have to put up a marquee, as … Continue reading →

Posted in Places, Teysseroles chapel, Weather | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Unwanted Visitors and SW France Weather May 2015

Posted on 06/06/2015 by

I stepped off the plane at Toulouse on Wednesday evening into a different season. During a brief business visit to London, it was chilly and blustery. Back in SW France, summer had suddenly arrived with temperatures well into the thirties … Continue reading →

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Countless May Holidays and SW France Weather April 2015

Posted on 05/05/2015 by

  May in France is a month when you can’t move for public holidays. There’s one a week: two historical and two religious. Then the next one isn’t until 14th July, la fête nationale. We were talking about it at … Continue reading →

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Cuckoos, Birdsong and SW France Weather March 2015

Posted on 05/04/2015 by

  Bonnes Pâques à tout le monde. I had hoped to report the cuckoo’s arrival, but it’s dragging its heels (or whatever cuckoos have) this year. A friend 10 km to the south said it had arrived over a week … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature, Weather | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

The Flood of the Century in Southwest France, 3-4 March 1930

Posted on 03/03/2015 by

On Saturday 1st March 1930, torrential rain started to fall on already saturated ground in Southwest France. Unseasonably high temperatures brought by southerly winds rapidly melted the thick mantle of snow that had fallen in late winter on the mountains. … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Places, Weather | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Signs of Spring and Southwest France Weather February 2015

Posted on 01/03/2015 by

 The SF (Statistics Freak to the uninitiated) tells me that winter runs from November to February. Personally, I feel it’s longer than that, but it’s better not to argue with the expert. Even so, by the end of February, I … Continue reading →

Posted in French life, Weather | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Woodpeckers and Weather: January 2015 in Southwest France

Posted on 02/02/2015 by

  This is the acrobatic great spotted woodpecker that manages to cling onto the fat balls we hang out during cold weather (the red splodge on its head marks it out as a male). We haven’t seen this for several years, so … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature, Weather | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments