Aquitaine Weather

In a nutshell, expect warm and sunny summers but not as hot as the south of France Med coastline. In fact, clients tend to appreciate the Atlantic's moderating influence, as it means the weather isn't as stifling as it can be in places like Provence.

Wild Aquitaine beaches of the Cote Landais

On the Aquitaine coast, expect the average daily maximum (ADM) temperature in July and August to be 26°celsius (79°F for those Brits still working in 'old money'!). If you head a little further inland into Gascony then the ADM will be 28-29°celsius.

The influence of the Atlantic also means the occasional front is possible but these are normally short-lived and can often bring a welcome break to successive hot days. Further south, where the Atlantic meets the Pyrenees, summer thunderstorms are more prevalent and can be extremely potent - they make for quite a spectacle.

Sadly, one of the Alternative Aquitaine team - Justin - is a weather 'statto'. Yes, he actually enjoys analysing weather statistics and you can see the results below of one of his more recent investigations - a comparison of the 2010 summer in Aquitaine vs. Cornwall! Just be grateful you don't work with him.

2010 Aquitaine Summer Weather Report - Long and Hot!

The three charts below compare weather readings for Cap Ferret (Cazaux airstrip), Mont de Marsan (MdM airstrip) and Newquay, Cornwall (Porth).

Chart 1: Comparison of Ave. Daily Maximum Temperature - Jun / Jul / Aug / Sep
Chart 2: Highest Daily Maximum Temperature Recorded - Jun / Jul / Aug / Sep
Chart 3: Number of Days Recording Rainfall - Jul & Aug

1. Ave. Daily Max Summer 2010: Aquitaine 1-0 Cornwall
Aquitaine takes an easy 1-0 lead with the thermometer breaking 25°C each summer month except for June (Cap Ferret 24°C) and September (both Cap Ferret and Mont de Marsan averaged 24°C). Newquay's ave. daily max didn't break above 20°C all summer.

2. Highest Daily Max Summer 2010: Aquitaine 2-0 Cornwall
This one's no contest. The mercury hit 38°C in Mont-de-Marsan on July 21st (that's 100°F) and this is likely to happen most years. It's a bit cooler on the coast - but not much: Cap Ferret's hottest day each month was easily over 30°C. To be fair to Newquay, it did break 25°C in both June and July, but August's hottest day was a paltry 22°C!

3. Rainfall Days Summer 2010: Aquitaine 3-0 Cornwall
Ouch, it's a trouncing for Cornwall! Cap Ferret experienced some rainfall on 12 days of the 62 available in July & August compared to just 8 in Mont-de-Marsan. Newquay pulled out all the stops and recorded 39 rainfall days - not ideal for family beach holidays.

The statistics have been compiled using the excellent Weather Underground website which provides detailed weather histories for many places around the world.

And before anyone from Cornwall contacts us to complain, please bear in mind the following:
- we do actually like Cornwall quite a lot
- as a matter of fact, Justin is Cornish
- there are strong similarities to be observed between Cornwall & Aquitaine (fine beaches and surfing for example) and many clients say to us that Aquitaine is "Cornwall - but with sunnier weather and bigger waves"

External Links
Global weather statistics & historic data
Newquay-Porth weather station
Meteo France weather forecast

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