Several snowy episodes were recorded this week in France. Not enough to get into a snowball fight, but enough to convince yourself that the cold has definitely arrived in the country. Winter is here, no more doubt, but it is not necessarily at the top of the mountains that the snow is the most generous. By examining the data from Météo-France and climate records from the last twelve years, we realize with a little astonishment that the prize for the snowiest city goes to an urban area popular with tourists and comic book fans.
The Rhône-Alpes region is the big winner
According to the official classification of the meteorological organization, it is Annecy which records on average 4.17 days of snowfall per month between October and March. This is considerably more than its closest competitors. Grenoble follows in second place with only 2.50 monthly days, while Chambéry completes the winning trio with 1.67 days per month.
Behind these three cities, arrive Mulhouse, Colmar and Besançon, all three bordering with around 1.5 days of snow per month. The once again overwhelming presence of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in this list confirms the winter trend: nine cities in this region appear in the national top 20 of snowiest cities. Strasbourg, Nancy, Metz and Saint-Étienne, for example, maintain around 1.33 days per month. Nothing very surprising in the end: Annecy, Grenoble and Chambéry are enclosed between mountain ranges, which increases the level of precipitation.
Frequency does not mean intensity
To better understand this ranking, a crucial distinction needs to be made between frequency (number of days snow falls) and intensity (amount of precipitation per square meter). The Météo-France ranking is based on frequency. Thus, the inhabitants of Annecy often see snow, but in the form of episodic falls. Conversely, Saint-Étienne ranks lower in the ranking, but when snow arrives, it is usually in greater quantities, with accumulations of around 82 centimeters per winter on average.
To the geographical disparities between cities, we must also add the influence of human activity and climate change. Since the 1960s, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region has recorded a notable increase in annual temperatures. The climate projections from the TRACC (Reference Warming Trajectory for Adaptation to Climate Change) also worry meteorologists: if the trend continues, the number of days of snow on the ground will decrease by around two months on most mountain ranges at medium and low altitudes, at a rate of +2.°C by 2050 on a global scale.
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