Climate Jura

The climate in the Jura region is semi-continental. For several years now there have been periods of drought

Average temperatures

The Jura has a semi-continental climate. Its winters are therefore cold but not very snowy, due to its low altitude. The plains are covered with an average of 15 cm of snow. Winter sports enthusiasts can rest assured that the Haut-Jura does experience significant snowfall, sometimes as late as May! Temperatures vary according to altitude: nicknamed "Little Siberia", Bresse can break records for cold weather in winter (-25°C in 2010). The rest of the department is subject to significant temperature variations. Summers are hot and dry with often 30°C in the shade!

Sunshine

Despite being a rainy department, the Jura has a higher than average amount of sunshine than northern France. The mountains are sunny in winter, while the plains are often obscured by stagnant mists. On the other hand, the trend is reversed from April to September: the autumn offers beautiful periods of sunshine at lower altitudes, while the heights are regularly deprived of it.

Precipitation

Climate change has contributed for several years to a significant reduction in the level of rainfall and snowfall. The higher you go, the more you will be watered! Indeed, the Jura remains one of the rainiest departments in France. If, on the plains, the average is between 700 and 1,000 mm per year, things get worse at altitude: from 1,200 to 1,400 mm in the Jura massif, then from 1,300 mm to 1,600 mm in the lower mountains, reaching up to 2,000 mm per year on the highest plateaus.

Wind

Preserved by its continental climate, the Jura is not very exposed to the wind (barely 20 days a year above 57 km/h). Only the famous breeze, dry and sometimes icy, crosses it at any time of the year.

Natural phenomena

Like many mountainous areas, thunderstorms are frequent in the Jura in the summer, and until early autumn. Sometimes, earthquakes of low magnitude shake the department, as it was the case in January 2012 in Salins-les-Bains (slight tremor estimated at 2.3 on the Richter scale)