Climate averages 1991–2020
Besançon weather
in January.
A cold, wet month: the coolest and the 9th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
January is a cold month in Besançon: daytime highs average 6.1°C and nights cool to about 0.1°C. By daytime temperature it is the coolest month of the year.
Expect about 108 mm of rain on roughly 14 days, which makes January a wet month (the 9th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 8 h 57 min on an average January day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Dijon (76 km away). In January its highs average 6.1°C, about as warm as Besançon, with 73 mm of rain.
Among the 57 cities listed in France, Besançon ranks joint 52nd of 57 for the warmest January highs and 55th of 57 for the driest January (rainfall, lowest first). The mean January high of those 57 cities is 8.0°C; Besançon is 1.9°C cooler than that mean.
From January to February, average highs rise by 1.2°C to 7.3°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 108 mm to 96 mm.
The annual picture
January in context
Monthly rainfall
Average total · mmAverages from hourly ERA5 reanalysis data. Actual weather varies from year to year. How these numbers are calculated
Every month, side by side
Besançon climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January, selected | 6.1°C0.1°C | 0.1°C | 108 | 13.6 | 8.99 h |
| February | 7.3°C0.1°C | 0.1°C | 96 | 12.5 | 10.210 h |
| March | 11.2°C2.7°C | 2.7°C | 95 | 12.9 | 11.912 h |
| April | 14.9°C5.7°C | 5.7°C | 88 | 12.8 | 13.614 h |
| May | 18.5°C9.7°C | 9.7°C | 110 | 14.2 | 15.115 h |
| June | 22.2°C13.3°C | 13.3°C | 85 | 12.6 | 15.916 h |
| July | 24.7°C15.4°C | 15.4°C | 76 | 11.9 | 15.516 h |
| August | 24.7°C15.5°C | 15.5°C | 78 | 10.6 | 14.214 h |
| September | 20.2°C12.0°C | 12.0°C | 93 | 11.2 | 12.613 h |
| October | 15.9°C8.6°C | 8.6°C | 105 | 12.4 | 10.911 h |
| November | 10.0°C3.9°C | 3.9°C | 115 | 13.7 | 9.49 h |
| December | 6.6°C1.2°C | 1.2°C | 124 | 15.2 | 8.69 h |
Rainfall is the average of the 30 separate monthly totals. A rain day is a local calendar day with at least 1 mm of precipitation. Daylight is the calculated sunrise-to-sunset length, not measured sunshine.
Compare places
January in nearby cities
- Dijon in JanuaryFrance · 76 kmHigh 6.1°C · Low 0.4°C · 73 mm rain
- Lausanne in JanuarySwitzerland · 94 kmHigh 5.1°C · Low 0.5°C · 108 mm rain
- Bern in JanuarySwitzerland · 113 kmHigh 3.8°C · Low -3.3°C · 80 mm rain
- Mulhouse in JanuaryFrance · 113 kmHigh 5.0°C · Low -1.2°C · 75 mm rain
- Geneva in JanuarySwitzerland · 117 kmHigh 5.3°C · Low -0.9°C · 115 mm rain
- Basel in JanuarySwitzerland · 122 kmHigh 5.4°C · Low -1.7°C · 80 mm rain
- Nancy in JanuaryFrance · 160 kmHigh 5.3°C · Low 0.1°C · 71 mm rain
- Freiburg in JanuaryGermany · 161 kmHigh 5.3°C · Low -1.2°C · 91 mm rain
Read the numbers correctly
Climate, not a promise.
These patterns help compare months. They cannot tell you the weather on a specific day of your trip.
Sources, method and limitsHow these numbers are made (what the highs, lows and rain days mean, the sources and the model cell used for Besançon) is explained once on the Besançon year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.