Geography and Climate
The valley includes historic towns such as Amboise, Angers, Blois, Chinon, Nantes, Orléans, Saumur, and Tours.
The climate is favorable most of the year, the river often acting as a line of demarcation in France's weather between the northern climate and the southern. The river has a significant effect on the mesoclimate of the region, adding a few degrees of temperature. The climate can be cool with springtime frost while wine harvest months may have rain. Summers are hot; however influences from the Atlantic moderate the temperature with breezes.
Temperature, rainfall and average sunshine time in Angers (Anjou):
| Month | Jan | Feb | March | Apr | May | June | July | Aug | Sept | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average minimum temperature (°C) | 2.1 | 2.2 | 3.9 | 5.6 | 8.9 | 11.8 | 13.6 | 13.4 | 11.3 | 8.4 | 4.6 | 2.8 | 7.4 |
| Average temperature (°C) | 5 | 5.7 | 8.2 | 10.4 | 13.9 | 16.2 | 19.2 | 19.1 | 16.5 | 12.7 | 8 | 5.6 | 11.8 |
| Average maximum temperature (°C) | 7.9 | 9.2 | 12.6 | 15.3 | 19 | 22.6 | 24.9 | 24.7 | 21.8 | 17 | 11.4 | 8.4 | 16.2 |
| Average monthly rainfall (mm) | 62.1 | 50.8 | 51.7 | 44.6 | 54.4 | 41.2 | 43.8 | 44.9 | 52.2 | 59.6 | 64.5 | 63.4 | 633.4 |
| Monthly hours of sunshine (hour/month) | 70 | 92 | 141 | 179 | 201 | 234 | 248 | 237 | 191 | 129 | 89 | 65 | 1877 |
| Source : Climatology from 1947 to 2008 - Angers, France | |||||||||||||
Read more about this topic: Loire Valley
Famous quotes containing the words geography and, geography and/or climate:
“At present cats have more purchasing power and influence than the poor of this planet. Accidents of geography and colonial history should no longer determine who gets the fish.”
—Derek Wall (b. 1965)
“The California fever is not likely to take us off.... There is neither romance nor glory in digging for gold after the manner of the pictures in the geography of diamond washing in Brazil.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“Is not their climate foggy, raw, and dull,
On whom, as in despite, the sun looks pale,
Killing their fruit with frowns?”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)