Meteo Pau

The weather has fascinated many people since the beginning of time, but the weather in Pau is something else!

Being snuggled in the foothills of the Pyrenees means that Pau has some of the most changeable weather in the region. This can be both a blessing and a curse.

Pau is a in a valley, the valley Ossau. The valley is green and luscious. As you progress further east towards the Mediterranean the landscape changes. The landscape is drier and will green fades in to a sun bleached scene. Towards the end of the summer there is parchedness to the ground which will rarely be seen in Pau.

The intermittent storms which burst onto the Palois keep the green of spring present until much later in the summer than in many regions.

There will be glorious days in the middle of winter when the Palois will be out in T-shirts and just a day or two either side and the temperature will barely be above freezing.

The way to get the most out of changeable weather conditions is to always be ready to enjoy whatever weather there is. The landscape around Pau lends itself to the walking and climbing so there is plenty to enjoy even at short notice.

So what makes the weather in Pau so bizarre? The weather in Pau is defined by the combination of the winds and the mountains. Together these create rapidly changing weather fronts which are a forecaster’s nightmare. The speed of the weather is notoriously difficult to predict, but when the warm winds meet the icy mountain air it is hard to know when you will need hats and gloves and when you will be sun bathing.

However, the weather on the mountains is not as strange. The ski resorts in the region have a long season with Cauterets getting one of the last falling of snow. The ski resorts will often still be busy while the Palois are sunbathing, so a hard days skiing can be followed by a relaxing day taking in the Sun on the Boulevard des Pyrenees.

But there is some predictability to the weather in Pau. Spring tends to start pretty much at the beginning of April. The weather warms up, summer time has already changed and the evenings are becoming wonderfully long and cool.

Pau and the Palois change with the weather. The city can seem quite in the colder months, but once the sun appears there is a mass of people on the streets and the town suddenly seems to come to life.