Home / Planning your trip / Lyon's climate: weather and seasons

Lyon's climate: weather and seasons

Lyon has a temperate climate with oceanic, continental and Mediterranean influences. It enjoys more than 2,000 hours of sunshine a year, with cool winters and hot, sometimes very hot, summers.

Sun, rain and temperatures

The annual average is around 13 °C. Autumn is the wettest season; summer also brings rain, mostly as violent thunderstorms. Sunshine exceeds that of Paris, Lille, Strasbourg or Nantes. In winter, temperatures hover around 5 °C.

Increasingly hot summers

Heatwaves have become frequent. According to the local press, Lyon recorded 38.7 °C in June 2026, a record for the month of June. In summer, choose air-conditioned accommodation and sightsee early in the morning or late in the day.

The bise and the vent du Midi

Lying in the Saône-Rhône corridor, Lyon knows only two winds: the bise, from the north, and the vent du Midi, from the south, more frequent and more violent, which can exceed 100 km/h and often signals rain. When it blows, the view reaches the Alps and Mont Blanc from Fourvière or the Croix-Rousse.

The fogs of old

Lyon was once as famous as London for its fogs, with more than 50 days a year before 1950. They are less frequent today, because of global warming, urbanisation and the draining of wetlands in the Dombes.

Updated 25 October 2026.