Climate. Météo-France reports on an October marked by mild weather, but strong winds.

October saw temperatures "close to normal" in France, thanks to rather mild weather despite the end of the month being marked by Storm Benjamin, Météo-France indicated in a monthly report on Monday.

Nationwide, temperatures for the month were 0.2°C above normal, as was already the case in September. "Less than 10% of the territory experienced sub-zero temperatures at the start of this autumn season, one of the lowest values ​​since records began in 1947," notes the national forecaster. The normal range for this time of year is 40%.

After a peak of mild weather between October 20 and 22, when the 25°C mark was crossed in the Southwest and near the Mediterranean, "the end of the month was turbulent, with in particular the passage of a tornado in Val-d'Oise on October 20 and storm Benjamin on October 23 ," notes Météo-France.

The tornado caused significant damage and one death in Ermont. Météo-France emphasized that this type of phenomenon is extremely difficult to predict, being "very sudden, [...] very small in size and short-lived." Due to the lack of a weather station in the area, the wind speed is unknown.

For Storm Benjamin, however, which was widely anticipated, Météo-France was able to measure gusts of up to 168 km/h in Corsica and 144 km/h on the mainland. "The wind may have blown even stronger in the mountains or on the coast on exposed headlands," its forecasters specified.

For the remainder of the month, "sunshine was slightly above average, with particularly abundant sunshine on the western coast of the country." Rainfall was generally in line with the average, and locally the month was very dry. "In Béziers (Hérault), less than 5 mm of rain fell (average: 84 mm). In the Hautes-Pyrénées, this was the second driest October on record, after October 1969."