Dear Lyon friends, if you feel like you can’t remember what the sun looks like, don’t worry, it’s not your imagination playing tricks on you! Since the beginning of November, the capital of the Gauls has only enjoyed 35 hours of sunshine according to weather reports from the Lyon-Bron station as of November 15, 2024 (which is 55% less than in November 2023). For the year 2024, there’s a total of 1778 hours, which is 13% less than usual, averaging 162 hours per month.
Readings Below Seasonal Norms
If our calculations are correct, Kévin, those 35 hours of sunshine mean about 2 hours and 20 minutes per day when averaged over the first half of November. It’s safe to say that catching those few fleeting rays required being in the right place at the right time and a whole lot of luck!
Normal statistics for the autumn season? Not at all! According to the same tables, these hours of sunshine are 55% lower than usual for this time of year.
The rest of France under the gloom
But the residents of Lyon are far from being the most unfortunate. Paris only sees 9 hours of sunshine, Lille gets less than 7 hours, Dijon just 6 hours, and the record for dreariness goes to the Venice of the West... On November 5th, the metropolis of Nantes recorded just 1 hour and 17 minutes of sunshine over the last 10 days. This phenomenon was intensified by thick fog, which completely prevented the Nantes-Atlantique aeroclub planes from taking off for nine consecutive days.
In the end, Lugdunum seems much brighter than its French peers...
