Climate and average weather in Perpignan

In Perpignan, the summers are hot, fairly dry, and mostly clear and the winters are cool and partly cloudy.

Best: early April to early November

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Perpignan typically varies from 5°C to 29°C, and is rarely below 0°C or above 33°C. July is the hottest month of the year, while January is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Perpignan for warm-weather activities is from early April to early November.

Hottest
Jul
29°
Coldest
Jan
Wettest
Oct
87 mm
Driest
Jul
19 mm
Rain / yr
604 mm
74 wet days
Daylight
8.9–15.1 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
43 m
42.7°N
Clearest
Jul
35% cloud

Perpignan is French commune in Pyrénées-Orientales, Occitania.

Air quality
Good
PM2.5 9.7 µg/m³ · 2019
Density
1,626/km²
people per km²
Founded
~927 CE

Air quality: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database. Density & description: Wikidata (CC0), GeoNames.

Perpignan weather by month, at a glance

The whole year in one picture — sky, rain, humidity, temperature and travel score. Click any band to jump to its full chart.

Each stripe is one measure across the whole year, stacked so a single day reads top to bottom. The sky band runs overcast grey on top down to clear blue at the base — more blue means sunnier — followed by the rainfall curve, the humidity band, a temperature strip that tints each stretch of the year by how warm its average high is, and the travel-score line at the foot. Scan straight down any date to read that day across every measure at once; the score climbs highest around early April to early November.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Daily average highs and lows in Perpignan, from 1991–2020 of climate data. The shaded bands show the range most days fall in — 10th to 90th percentile.

The hot season lasts 3.3 months, from June 10 to September 16, with daily high temperatures above 25°C. The hottest month of the year in Perpignan is July, with an average high of 29°C and low of 20°C.

The cool season lasts 3.7 months, from November 16 to March 9, with daily high temperatures below 15°C. The coldest month of the year in Perpignan is January, with an average low of 5°C and high of 12°C.

Days typically run about 8°C warmer than nights year-round.

10°20°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan125
Feb135
Mar167
Apr1810
May2213
Jun2617
Jul2920
Aug2920
Sep2516
Oct2113
Nov169
Dec126

Average hourly temperature in Perpignan

A compact picture of the whole year, hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled average temperature. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

Read left to right for the day of the year and top to bottom for the hour of the day; the color is the modeled temperature, cool blues through to hot reds on the same scale as the other charts. A vertical slice is a single day's swing — coolest just before dawn, warmest in the mid-afternoon — while a horizontal slice follows one hour across the seasons. The darker overlay marks night and the lighter one the twilight around sunrise and sunset. Colors run warmest on July afternoons, near 29°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near C.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM

Perpignan weather by month

Every month at a glance. Click a month for its detailed page.

MonthHigh / Low (°C)Rainfall (mm)Wet daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan12° / 586.89.23.4
Feb13° / 435.210.34.0
Mar16° / 506.511.65.4
Apr18° / 10°628.313.16.3
May22° / 13°506.914.47.2
Jun26° / 17°264.715.17.6
Jul29° / 20°193.614.86.7
Aug29° / 20°304.713.76.5
Sep25° / 16°555.912.37.6
Oct21° / 13°877.910.86.8
Nov16° / 677.29.65.2
Dec12° / 566.28.93.7

Chance of rain

How likely it is to rain on a typical day, and how that shifts across the wetter and drier seasons.

Perpignan gets about 604 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is some rain, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 2.1 months, from around Mar 20 to May 22, peaking in April at about 29% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 19.

October is the wettest month by volume, with 87 mm over about 8 wet days; July is the driest, with 19 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetApr 27 · 29%Jul 19 · 10%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan217
Feb195
Mar217
Apr278
May237
Jun165
Jul114
Aug155
Sep206
Oct258
Nov247
Dec206

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Perpignan collects about 604 mm of rain across 74 wet days — roughly 50 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. October is the wettest month with 87 mm, while July is the driest at just 19 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 36% of the year’s total.

0255075100JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec584350625026193055876756
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan587
Feb435
Mar507
Apr628
May507
Jun265
Jul194
Aug305
Sep556
Oct878
Nov677
Dec566

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

How often the daytime sky is clear, partly cloudy or overcast.

In Perpignan, the average share of the sky covered by clouds shows moderate seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year begins around June 9 and lasts for 3.8 months, ending around October 3. The clearest month is July, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 78% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around March 18 and lasts for 2.7 months, ending around June 8. The cloudiest month is December, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 48% of the time.

0%100%10%90%20%80%30%70%40%60%50%50%60%40%70%30%80%20%90%10%100%0%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 23 · 79%May 4 · 49%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan5347
Feb5743
Mar5842
Apr5545
May5446
Jun6634
Jul7822
Aug7129
Sep6436
Oct5347
Nov5446
Dec5248

Daylight, sunrise and sunset

DaylightNight

Hours of daylight through the year, with sunrise and sunset times.

The gold band is daylight — sunrise runs along its lower edge, sunset along the upper — so it widens toward summer and pinches toward winter, with night the dark area above and below. The longest day, around June 10, brings about 15 h 06 min of light; the shortest, around January 1, only 8 h 54 min — a swing of roughly 6 h 12 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan9.28:225:33
Feb10.37:556:11
Mar11.67:096:47
Apr13.16:147:23
May14.45:327:58
Jun15.15:158:22
Jul14.85:298:20
Aug13.76:007:45
Sep12.36:346:51
Oct10.87:095:58
Nov9.67:485:19
Dec8.98:185:11

Sunny days

How many genuinely sunny days each month brings — days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — banded into plain-language zones.

Perpignan averages about 13 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 10 and 19 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 3.6 months, from around Jun 13 to Sep 29. The sunniest month is July, with roughly 18 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is May, down near 12 sunny days — about 37% fewer than the July peak.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantJul 2019 daysMay 210 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan12Mixed
Feb12Mixed
Mar13Mixed
Apr12Mixed
May12Mixed
Jun14Mixed
Jul19Bright
Aug17Bright
Sep15Bright
Oct12Mixed
Nov11Mixed
Dec12Mixed

Humidity comfort

DryComfortableHumidMuggyOppressiveMiserable

Share of days at each humidity comfort level, based on the dew point — the measure that tracks how muggy it actually feels.

Humidity comfort is graded by the dew point — the temperature at which the air would be fully saturated — because it tracks how muggy it actually feels far better than relative humidity does. A low dew point feels dry and crisp; a high one feels sticky and oppressive no matter the reading on a humidity gauge.

In Perpignan, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 4.8 months, from around May 31 to October 22. The muggiest month is July, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 48% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around October 23 to May 30, and April is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 100% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecApr 6 · 100%Jul 31 · 44%muggyhumidcomfortabledrycomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)
Jan1000000
Feb1000000
Mar1000000
Apr964000
May6926500
Jun41292550
Jul252728192
Aug232325245
Sep432620110
Oct59231620
Nov909100
Dec991000

Wind

Average wind speed through the year, banded into plain-language speed zones so a number reads as 'breezy' or 'calm' without knowing the scale.

This is the average sustained wind speed at the standard 10 metres above open ground — the steady flow a weather station reports, not the sharper gusts that come and go, which can run half again as fast. It's the number that says whether a place is generally breezy or calm.

Wind in Perpignan is steady company: average speeds sit near 14 km/hlight breeze — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezeApr 6 · 16 km/hAug 19 · 13 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan14light breeze
Feb16light breeze
Mar15light breeze
Apr15light breeze
May15light breeze
Jun14light breeze
Jul14light breeze
Aug13light breeze
Sep13light breeze
Oct13light breeze
Nov14light breeze
Dec14light breeze

Best time to visit Perpignan

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

To characterize how pleasant the weather is in Perpignan throughout the year, we compute two travel scores — one for general sightseeing, one for beach and pool weather.

Around late October, Perpignan is still near the tail of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds already thinning.

Inferred from the travel-score curve; month-by-month visitor numbers are a planned addition.

The travel score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 18°C and 28°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Perpignan for general outdoor tourist activities is from early April to early November, with a peak score in the third week of June.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJun 19 · 7.7

The travel score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

Travel score (0–10)Rating
Jan3.4poor
Feb4.0fair
Mar5.4fair
Apr6.3good
May7.2good
Jun7.6ideal
Jul6.7good
Aug6.5good
Sep7.6ideal
Oct6.8good
Nov5.2fair
Dec3.7fair

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Perpignan for hot-weather activities is from early June to mid September, with a peak score in the third week of July.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 18 · 8.5

The beach/pool score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

What to pack for Perpignan, by month

EssentialRecommendedOptional

Month by month, what's worth putting in the bag — from the temperature range, rain chance, sun and wind. Tap a month for a quick packing note.

For a warm-season trip around July (highs near 29°C), the essentials are light clothes and sun protection. In the cold season around January (highs near 12°C), pack a warm layer.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In July, Perpignan sees daytime highs around 29°C and nights near 20°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. About 4 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Perpignan

Average ocean temperature at the nearest coast, month by month, banded into swim-comfort zones — the other half of the beach question.

The sea at the nearest coast (about 20 km away) is warmest in August at about 22°C and coldest in February near 12°C.

It's comfortable for a long swim from Jun 30 to Sep 20 — about 2.7 months when the water holds above 20°C.

10°15°20°25°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbracingcoolrefreshingwarmcomfortable to swim
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan13Bracing
Feb12Bracing
Mar13Bracing
Apr14Bracing
May16Cool
Jun19Cool
Jul21Refreshing
Aug22Refreshing
Sep20Refreshing
Oct18Cool
Nov16Cool
Dec14Bracing

UV index (midday) in Perpignan by month

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Clear-sky midday UV index through the year, shaded by the WHO exposure levels — how much sun protection each month calls for.

Under clear skies, the midday UV index in Perpignan peaks around July 14 at about 9 (very high) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 21 at about 1 (low).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — in 8 months of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecLowModerateHighVery highHighModerateLowJul 14UV 9Dec 21UV 1
UV index (midday)Level
Jan2Low
Feb3Moderate
Mar4Moderate
Apr6High
May7High
Jun8Very high
Jul9Very high
Aug8Very high
Sep5High
Oct3Moderate
Nov2Low
Dec1Low

Average hourly UV index in Perpignan

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Modeled clear-sky UV for every hour of every day — when in the day sun protection actually matters.

The whole year hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled clear-sky UV index — the midday peak scaled down as the sun sits lower in the sky. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

UV falls off far faster than brightness as the sun drops, so even in July the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 5 hours reach 6 or more. Mornings and late afternoons stay comparatively gentle year round.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM
UV ≥ 3 (h/day)UV ≥ 6 (h/day)
Jan00
Feb00
Mar4.50
Apr6.51.5
May7.53
Jun84.5
Jul85
Aug73.5
Sep5.50
Oct2.50
Nov00
Dec00
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free day

Perpignan is mild enough that a frost-free day stays more likely than not even in midwinter.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan940
Feb950
Mar990
Apr1000
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov990
Dec950

Growing degree days

Degree days (base 10°C)

Growing degree days tally heat above 10°C: each day adds however many degrees its average temperature runs over that threshold, and cold days add nothing. Perpignan banks about 2,238 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around July.

05001,0001,5002,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan0
Feb0
Mar48
Apr118
May234
Jun351
Jul445
Aug443
Sep326
Oct211
Nov61
Dec0

Solar energy

Average daily shortwave solar energy reaching the ground, banded into brightness zones so the number means something at a glance.

Solar energy is how much sunlight actually reaches the ground each day, measured in kilowatt-hours per square metre (kWh/m²) — the combined effect of how long the sun is up, how high it climbs, and how much cloud gets in the way. It's the raw fuel a solar panel has to work with: for scale, 1 kWh/m² a day is dim and wintry, while 7+ is desert-bright.

Perpignan receives about 4.3 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 1.6 and 6.8 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.2 months, from around Mar 17 to Sep 20. The brightest month is June, averaging about 6.7 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is December, down near 1.7 kWh/m² — roughly 75% less than the June peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseJun 266.8 kWhDec 191.6 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan1.9Dim
Feb2.9Moderate
Mar4.2Bright
Apr5.4Bright
May6.2Intense
Jun6.7Intense
Jul6.7Intense
Aug5.8Bright
Sep4.5Bright
Oct3.0Moderate
Nov2.1Moderate
Dec1.6Dim

Where is Perpignan?

Perpignan sits at 42.7°N, 2.9°E, 43 m above sea level, in France. The nearest listed city is Figueres, 48 km away.

What Perpignan looks like

Topography around Perpignan

How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 3, 16 and 80 km of Perpignan.

Within 3 km, the terrain around Perpignan has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 77 m around an average of 37 m above sea level; within 16 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 487 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,892 m.

The land around Perpignan is covered by artificial surfaces (59%) within 3 km, grassland (22%) and shrubs (20%) within 16 km, and trees (44%) and water (26%) within 80 km.

3 km
77 m
16 km
487 m
80 km
2,892 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwaterwetland
Nearby: Figueres 48 km · Roses 54 km · Narbonne 55 km · Banyoles 65 km · Olot 66 km · Carcassonne 73 km · Béziers 76 km · Girona 80 km

France travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type C / E
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 77% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$48,986
2025
Happiness
6.6 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
100%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
1.3
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
5.1
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
High
World Bank
English
Moderate
EF EPI 539
Religion
Roman Catholic 47%none 33%Muslim 4%Protestant 2%

Sources: World Bank, US State Department, World Happiness Report, WHO/UNICEF, EF EPI, CIA World Factbook.

Data sources

Temperature, precipitation, cloud, humidity, wind and solar figures are a 1991–2020 climatology for Perpignan (42.6976°, 2.8954°, elevation 43 m), computed from hourly ERA5 reanalysis — contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information. Sun figures are astronomical calculations, not observations. City data © GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. Map outlines from Natural Earth (public domain); interactive map © Google. Sea temperatures are the NOAA OISST v2.1 1991–2020 monthly climatology (public domain), sampled at the nearest ocean point. UV index is derived from CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) clear-sky UV data — contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).