Climate and average weather in Saintes

In Saintes, the summers are warm, fairly dry, and partly cloudy and the winters are cool and mostly cloudy.

Best: mid May to mid October

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Saintes typically varies from 3°C to 26°C, and is rarely below -3°C or above 32°C. August is the hottest month of the year, while January is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Saintes for warm-weather activities is from mid May to mid October.

Hottest
Aug
26°
Coldest
Jan
Wettest
Dec
81 mm
Driest
Jul
41 mm
Rain / yr
741 mm
119 wet days
Daylight
8.5–15.5 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
26 m
45.7°N
Clearest
Aug
50% cloud

Saintes 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 mid May to mid October.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

The hot season lasts 3.6 months, from June 4 to September 20, with daily high temperatures above 23°C. The hottest month of the year in Saintes is August, with an average high of 26°C and low of 15°C.

The cool season lasts 3.6 months, from November 17 to March 6, with daily high temperatures below 13°C. The coldest month of the year in Saintes is January, with an average low of 4°C and high of 10°C.

Days typically run about 9°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 11°C) in August.

10°20°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan104
Feb113
Mar145
Apr177
May2011
Jun2414
Jul2615
Aug2615
Sep2313
Oct1910
Nov136
Dec104

How hot and cold Saintes really feels

Feels-like highFeels-like lowactual air temp

The felt-temperature range through the year — heat index on the day's high (summer humidity), wind chill on the night's low (winter wind). The dashed lines are the plain thermometer; the gap is how much hotter or colder it really feels.

On the coldest nights, wind chill pulls the feels-like down to about -1°C (around February 6), with roughly 28 freezing days a year (feels-like at or below 0°C), worst in February.

10°20°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan101004
Feb111103
Mar141425
Apr171757
May20201011
Jun24241414
Jul26261515
Aug26261515
Sep23231313
Oct1919910
Nov131346
Dec101014

Average hourly temperature in Saintes

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 August afternoons, near 26°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near C.

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

Saintes 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
Jan10° / 7311.28.92.0
Feb11° / 549.410.12.6
Mar14° / 5610.411.64.2
Apr17° / 6411.113.35.2
May20° / 11°6711.314.76.1
Jun24° / 14°538.515.47.0
Jul26° / 15°416.915.17.2
Aug26° / 15°457.113.97.2
Sep23° / 13°54812.37.1
Oct19° / 10°7411.210.75.7
Nov13° / 8012.19.33.5
Dec10° / 8112.18.52.3

Chance of rain

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

Saintes gets about 741 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is often wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 5.2 months, from around Sep 30 to Mar 5, peaking in November at about 42% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 19.

December is the wettest month by volume, with 81 mm over about 12 wet days; July is the driest, with 41 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetNov 8 · 42%Jul 19 · 20%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan3711
Feb349
Mar3310
Apr3711
May3711
Jun299
Jul227
Aug227
Sep278
Oct3711
Nov3912
Dec3812

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Saintes collects about 741 mm of rain across 119 wet days — roughly 62 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. December is the wettest month with 81 mm, while July is the driest at just 41 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 32% of the year’s total.

0255075100JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec735456646753414554748081
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan7311
Feb549
Mar5610
Apr6411
May6711
Jun539
Jul417
Aug457
Sep548
Oct7411
Nov8012
Dec8112

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Saintes, 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 10 and lasts for 3.7 months, ending around October 1. The clearest month is August, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 57% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around October 2 and lasts for 5.9 months, ending around March 31. The cloudiest month is January, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 69% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAug 10 · 58%Dec 24 · 29%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan3169
Feb3763
Mar4060
Apr4060
May3961
Jun4555
Jul5644
Aug5743
Sep5050
Oct3961
Nov3466
Dec3169

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 12, brings about 15 h 30 min of light; the shortest, around January 1, only 8 h 30 min — a swing of roughly 7 hours.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan8.98:465:37
Feb10.18:156:19
Mar11.67:247:00
Apr13.36:247:42
May14.75:378:20
Jun15.45:188:48
Jul15.15:338:44
Aug13.96:088:05
Sep12.36:477:06
Oct10.77:276:08
Nov9.38:115:25
Dec8.58:445:14

Sunny days

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

Saintes averages about 8 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 5 and 12 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 3.6 months, from around Jun 12 to Sep 28. The sunniest month is August, with roughly 12 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is January, down near 5 sunny days — about 53% fewer than the August peak.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedAug 1912 daysJan 115 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan6Gloomy
Feb7Gloomy
Mar8Gloomy
Apr7Gloomy
May7Gloomy
Jun8Mixed
Jul11Mixed
Aug12Mixed
Sep10Mixed
Oct7Gloomy
Nov6Gloomy
Dec6Gloomy

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 Saintes, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 4.1 months, from around June 2 to October 4. The muggiest month is July, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 28% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around October 5 to June 1, 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 7 · 100%Jul 30 · 65%humidcomfortabledrycomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)
Jan100000
Feb100000
Mar100000
Apr97300
May801730
Jun4935142
Jul2844254
Aug3038266
Sep5531141
Oct712550
Nov94600
Dec99100

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.

Across the year, average wind speed in Saintes is typically light breeze, near 12 km/h, and varies little with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 6.1 months, from around Oct 21 to Apr 24. The windiest month is December, averaging about 14 km/h (light breeze).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Apr 25 to Oct 20, with August the calmest month at about 11 km/h.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezeDec 27 · 14 km/hAug 6 · 10 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan14light breeze
Feb14light breeze
Mar13light breeze
Apr13light breeze
May12light breeze
Jun12calm
Jul11calm
Aug11calm
Sep11calm
Oct12light breeze
Nov13light breeze
Dec14light breeze

Best time to visit Saintes

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late May, Saintes is still near the start of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds not yet at full swing.

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 Saintes for general outdoor tourist activities is from mid May to mid October, with a peak score in the first week of September.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 4 · 7.5

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
Jan2.1poor
Feb2.7poor
Mar4.2fair
Apr5.2fair
May6.1good
Jun7.0good
Jul7.2good
Aug7.2good
Sep7.1good
Oct5.7good
Nov3.6fair
Dec2.3poor

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 Saintes for hot-weather activities is from mid June to mid September, with a peak score in the last week of July.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 24 · 7.2

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 Saintes, 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 August (highs near 26°C), the essentials are light clothes and sun protection. In the cold season around January (highs near 10°C), pack a warm layer and rain gear.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In August, Saintes sees daytime highs around 26°C and nights near 15°C. Worth packing: light clothes and sun protection. About 7 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Saintes

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 40 km away) is warmest in August at about 21°C and coldest in February near 10°C.

It's comfortable for a long swim from Jul 19 to Aug 31 — about 1.4 months when the water holds above 20°C.

10°15°20°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbracingcoolrefreshing
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan11Bracing
Feb10Bracing
Mar11Bracing
Apr13Bracing
May15Cool
Jun18Cool
Jul20Refreshing
Aug21Refreshing
Sep19Cool
Oct17Cool
Nov15Bracing
Dec12Bracing

UV index (midday) in Saintes 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 Saintes peaks around July 19 at about 8 (very high) — sunscreen and a hat are worth it in the middle of the day. It bottoms out near January 1 at about 1 (low).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — in 7 months of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecLowModerateHighVery highModerateLowJul 19UV 8Jan 1UV 1
UV index (midday)Level
Jan1Low
Feb2Low
Mar4Moderate
Apr6High
May6High
Jun7Very high
Jul8Very high
Aug7Very high
Sep5Moderate
Oct3Moderate
Nov2Low
Dec1Low

Average hourly UV index in Saintes

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 4.5 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
Mar40
Apr60
May71
Jun83.5
Jul84.5
Aug73.5
Sep50
Oct00
Nov00
Dec00
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayReliably frost-free (≥90%)

Saintes is mild enough that a frost-free day stays more likely than not even in midwinter. Nights are reliably above freezing from about March 9 to November 20 (257 days); outside that window a hard frost is an occasional risk.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecreliably frost-freeMar 990%Nov 2090%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan7831
Feb7828
Mar9310
Apr990
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct990
Nov9314
Dec8131

Growing degree days

Degree days (base 10°C)Frost-free shaded

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. Saintes banks about 1,558 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around August.

05001,0001,500JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan0
Feb0
Mar6
Apr63
May170
Jun262
Jul333
Aug334
Sep239
Oct136
Nov14
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.

Saintes receives about 3.7 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — moderate — with a clear seasonal swing between 1.1 and 6.3 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.1 months, from around Mar 20 to Sep 22. The brightest month is June, averaging about 6.2 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is December, down near 1.2 kWh/m² — roughly 81% less than the June peak.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseJun 286.3 kWhDec 251.1 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan1.3Dim
Feb2.2Moderate
Mar3.5Moderate
Apr4.8Bright
May5.7Bright
Jun6.2Intense
Jul6.2Intense
Aug5.5Bright
Sep4.2Bright
Oct2.5Moderate
Nov1.6Dim
Dec1.1Dim

Where is Saintes?

Saintes sits at 45.7°N, 0.6°W, 26 m above sea level, in France. The nearest listed city is Cognac, 24 km away.

Topography around Saintes

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Saintes has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 68 m around an average of 26 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 109 m; within 80 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 242 m.

The land around Saintes is covered by trees (27%), artificial surfaces (27%) and grassland (26%) within 3 km, cropland (46%), trees (31%) and grassland (20%) within 16 km, and cropland (39%), trees (21%) and water (20%) within 80 km.

3 km
68 m
16 km
109 m
80 km
242 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswaterwetland
Nearby: Cognac 24 km · Royan 34 km · Rochefort 34 km · La Rochelle 61 km · Angoulême 62 km · Niort 65 km · Fontenay-le-Comte 81 km · Blanquefort 93 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 Saintes (45.7474°, -0.6349°, elevation 26 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).