Paris: Worst June-July on Record?
 

Just got an e-mail from a friend in Orleans, not far from Paris and she said that the last month was the worst summer weather she can ever remember (and she can remember back many years)

I've seen the posts here about Parisian cafes turning on the overhead heaters outdoors.

Not seeing too many of the AC needed in Paris questions either come to think about it.

Is this the worst month in Paris summer for a long time?

Global warming?

One or two months in one city or country doesn't disprove global warming - which is a world-wide process taking decades. (You need to look at worldwide shrinking of glaciers - not one cool month is Paris.)

And if weather were;t constant;ly not as expectewhat would half of us talkk about.

the Global Warming thing was a sarcasm - actually in my understanding of GW the weather will become weirder with more extremes at both ends - so the ultra-chilly summer could well be a product of global warming, which evidence overwhelmingly seems to support.

Look back to the summer of 2003 - that may have been the worst on record. Hundreds of people died that summer due to the heat. We were there and it was very very hot - A/C is not widely available and as you all know, cold drinks are hard to find.

We're sitting her in the Dordogne watching the rain fall, agreeing that it's the worst (coldest) summer in a long time. April was the hottest, driest - lots warmer than today. We do have some hot days, but certainly no long hot periods as you would expect by now.

I'm not sure why people find it hard to get cold drinks here, as we can certainly get cold beer, Perrier, etc. Not full of ice, but cold. Different expectations I guess.

>> cold drinks are hard to find. <<

!!!!!!!!

PalenQ, I can remember the spring of 2001 being awfully rainy, gloomy and cold, but this year is indeed the worst June/July in my recollection.

I agree with cmeyer54. Rainy and cold is not nearly so bad as scorching hot. However, there's still time for the weather to turn around and become scorching hot.

You call cool temps in summer and a few showers the worst? I'm calling it the best summer trip to France I've had in the last eight years! Woo Hoo! We love it. We've only used our a/c three times since 5 June and those days were not excruciatingly hot.

We had a great April here in France. The best in 300 years but this has been an absolutely awful June and July, mainly cold, wet and windy. The same in Britain where retailers and many businesses have written off summer this year.

To make a minor correction - it's not actually cold here in Northern Europe at the moment - it's just been very wet and grey for the last few weeks (with the odd days sunshine scattered here and there).

In the south-east of England it's been t-shirt temperature for ages, with frequent need for a brolly, but no coat necessary most of the time.

This has been the coolest and wettest June/July in Brussels that we've experienced since moving here in 1999. Almost every night we have a space heater running (for a while) in the bedroom and there's an extra blanket on the bed. I haven't worn any of my floaty summery things, but I've been wearing sweaters almost every day.
This past week-end was a welcome change with sunny and warm (but not hot) periods. We spent most of the two days outside, they were delightful. By 7 pm Sunday, it had started to shower again.
The current temperature in our neighborhood is about 11 degrees C. Not winter weather by any means but a long, long way from a heat wave (for which I'm exceedingly thankful). Even though today is St. Procule's day and the French/Belgian rhyme goes:
A la Saint Procule
Arrive la canicule

Note: On 9 July 1929, the low dropped 1.2 degrees in Bastogne. On the same date in 1959, the temp reached 36 degrees in Flanders.

depends what you call cool

sitting here in midwest US temp right now is 35 celsius

so the highs i've seen for Paris the last month it seems - in low 60s and rarely about 70 would be to me cool

and fact that cafes seem to be putting outdoor heaters back on and one poster said he had to wear his spring jacket to me is too cold.

My French friend is going to the seaside in a few weeks and hoped it warmed up - so cool is in the mind of the beholder.

Paper says today Paris hi 61 low 52 and showers - i'd call that cold for mid-summer

Cool, even cool and rainy ? worst, or even bad, in my book.

-- Seeker of the Shade

The question mark should have been a "does not equal" sign. Looked ok before I posted!

Plenty of space on the beaches of Normandy and Brittany.

Interesting. When we went to Europe (France, Germany, Austria) in the summertime during the 1980s, we never gave a thought to having AC because the weather was always cool except for a warmer day here and there. AC in Europe in the summer seems to be a more recent necessity. The current summer temps are the ones we were used to 20 years ago.

Yup - Just got an e-mail from someone in Paris - wet and cold. Highs and lows in temperatures have nothing to do with global warming per se. We had a really warm begining to our winter her in New York and everyone was shoutng- Oh it's global warming! But then the freezing, and I mean freezing weather came upon us. Heard nothing about global warming then!

"Normal" weather has extremes.

I was in Paris in mid-June and it was beautiful! Each day started out a little cool but my mid-day it was probably in the 30's! We had a bit of rain a couple of nights but nothing major or that lasted long. I don't think I wore a jacket the entire time I was there. Guess we got really lucky with our timing, weather-wise!

We were in Provence for all of June & the first week of July. It was the best weather we've ever experienced there. Cool, clear (mostly), and great visibility. We saw the high Alps quite often. Fewer nights dining outside, but delightful weather to trudge around Avignon, Arles, St Remy, Marseille, etc. I remember '05, '03, and '02 when we were exhausted doing the same with 35 C temps. During those hot years, we spent mid-day either in the pool or in the air conditioned car - way to hot to see the Pont du Gard, Les Baux, or cities anytime after about 11am and before about 6pm.

Stu Dudley