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 | |||||||||||||
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