Toulon is the hottest city in France on annual average, like many Mediterranean cities which take the lion’s share of this top 20 hottest cities.
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With an average temperature of 16.5°C, Toulon is the hottest city in mainland France, followed by Calvi and Bastia, both located in Haute-Corse. It is certainly a bit cliché, but it is better to go to the South to find some heat all year. Because if certain cities of the east or the center experience strong heat during the summer, even exceeding those of the Mediterranean, they are also exposed to harsh winters. Thanks to the influence of the sea, which naturally regulates temperatures, all the towns in Mediterranean rim benefit from an appreciable softness, sometimes just refreshed by the mistral or the tramontane. Another particularity of the cities in this top 20: their low altitude. All are located less than 100 meters above sea level, apart from Cassis (212 meters).
Records of heat, sun and heat wave
In Toulon, it is hot (almost) all year round: 19.5°C minimum temperature and 27.7°C maximum temperature in August (the hottest month), 6.1°C minimum temperature and 11 .3°C maximum temperature in January (coldest month). With 2,839 hours of sunshine, Toulon is also second in top 20 sunniest citiesjust behind Marseille (2,858 hours).
The temperature record in Toulon was set on July 7, 1982, when the thermometer soared to 40.1°C. Less than in Calvi, second in the ranking whose record dates from July 23, 1983 (42.1 ° C). However, the absolute heat record in France dates from 2019, with 46°C measured on June 28 in Vérargues, in the Hérault, in the middle of an episode of heat wave.
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