Rain in the South of France
In the Herault Department, it is
said that there are 300 days of sunshine per year, but what about the
other 65 days.
On average ten of them are
heavy rain, bordering on tropical, when the wind howls and the rain
falls like stair rods. A month’s rain can fall in a couple of days, and
each time it happens, the locals can be heard to say “Je ne jamais vue”
(I’ve never seen anything like it)
The consolation is, the
following morning, or the day after that, the skies will be back to
blue, and all signs of the bizarre amounts of rain, will have
disappeared. It will only be the vignerons who continue to worry, in
case the excessive amount of water will swell the grapes so much, that
they burst.
When
we first moved to the area in 1985, we were told that “it never rains
in the midi”, but of course I realised, that that could not be
correct. Eventually after much questioning, I was told that the rain
fell, “normalement” for a week in February, and a further week in
October, and that it would rain non stop for five days.
For the first few years, that
was exactly correct, and when it started, you could cancel any outdoor
activity for those five days.
Over the twenty five years that
we have lived here, the weather has changed, and those two periods of
five days have now been replaced by the same number of days, but spread
over a longer period of time, in the Spring, and Autumn giving the
impression that the weather is becoming more like UK weather, but 5 to
10 degrees centigrade warmer.
Many residents of the UK dream
of coming to the South of France to escape the winter weather, believing
that we don’t have a winter. In fact the winters can be cold, with early
morning frosts. The benefit however, is that during the day, it will be
mainly sunny with clear blue skies, and often warm enough to eat out on
a sheltered terrace. Snow is rarer, and in our time here, we had seen
snow just three times, until the winter of
2009/10 when it fell three times more.
The first time it settled for about 40 minutes. The second time it
settled for about 1 hour and the final time, it stayed in some shady
spots in our garden for about five days. All the locals thought it was
the end of the world, stayed indoors, and stoked up the fire, to sit it
out.
The Herault Department is
protected by the Caroux mountains. However there is a gap at St Pons,
which means that the valley between St Pons and Bedarieux can be very
cold, and wet in the winter months.
West, beyond St Pons, are the
Montagnes Noires, and where they end, there is a large opening for the
Atlantic weather to come howling through, past Carcassonne in the
direction of Narbonne and Rivesaltes. This gives the Aude Department,
it’s reputation as being the windy Department. Evidence of that, is the
number of wind turbines that have been erected over the past couple of
years.
During the summer months, it is
not unknown for a day of rain, and local residents, for the most part
are pleased to get a respite from the burning sun. Unfortunately the
tourists who have saved all year to come on their annual two week
holiday, are not so enthusiastic.
September will often see
violent thunderstorms, or more often, dry storms, and quite often there
will be days when it is grey and overcast, and looks certain to rain.
When we first moved here, I often put off watering our vegetable garden
when rain threatened, only to discover the next morning, that it had
remained dry. I have wised up, and nowadays, I can be seen watering the
vegetables even when it looks as though it will rain imminently, but
most of the time I have been right to do so.
Just prior to the grape
harvest, that takes place in early September, the nightmare of the wine
farmer is hailstones. Hail can strip every leaf, and bunch of grapes off
the vines.
Most villages advertise the
fact that they have a “micro climate”, and so it will not be unusual to
hear the residents repeat the phrase “Je ne jamais vue”.
Undoubtedly for someone, it will be a period that they have never seen
before. The south of France is often affected by these bizarre storms
that throw up horrific amounts of rain somewhere or the other, and comes
as part of the price of living in an area, where for the most part the
weather is semi tropical.
In our village on Sunday 26th
January 1996 there was a catastrophic flood that became national
headlines on the television, and newspapers for a week, and warranted a
visit by, the then Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin. It had been raining
here almost every other day since September, and the ground was
saturated. The equivalent of a year’s worth of rain had fallen during
those three months, and then finally on that Sunday it fell like stair
rods.
As quick as the flood water
arrived, it disappeared, and the task of rebuilding the village started.
Previously projected anti-flood measures were quickly constructed. A new
school, and fire station were built on the outskirts of the village, where
there are no foreseen dangers.
Throughout the south of France,
large ditches can be seen alongside roads and 'criss crossing' the
vinyards, and it is not until these sudden storms arise, that people can
see their value. Ditches two meters across, and two meters deep, remain
empty for many years, and then suddenly they becoming raging torrents for
two or three hours, and then remain empty until the next deluge, that
once again brings the comment “Je ne jamais vue”
It is said that the British are
obsessed with the weather, but the French, are, in many ways more so.
For when it rains here, you must believe, that the same amount of rain
that falls in the UK during a year is falling during those 10 days of
rain.
But I would ask you not to feel too sorry for us,
for on Christmas Day, you can be sure that we will probably be walking
on the beach, and then return home to eat our midday meal on the terrace
under clear blue skies and sunshine.
