Climate Change Chart of Serre Chevalier, France

Overview of climate changes

Changes in snowfall

Mean daily snowfall, averaged across calendar months, shows a difference of +0.64 mm/day between the reference periods. This unweighted average of monthly means describes an overall comparison, not a change that necessarily occurred in every month; the amounts are daily means rather than monthly totals. The largest monthly increase was in March, with a difference of +5.44 mm/day, while the largest decrease was in June, with a difference of -1.32 mm/day.

Temperature changes

Averaged across calendar months, monthly mean temperature shows a difference of +2.87 °C compared with the earlier reference period. This is an unweighted average of the monthly means, rather than a day-weighted annual average, and it describes the aggregate rather than every month. The largest monthly increase was in December, with a difference of +6.15 °C; monthly means do not represent daytime maximum temperatures.

Changes in rainfall

Averaged across calendar months, mean daily rainfall shows a difference of -0.32 mm/day, indicating a lower aggregate in the more recent period; this unweighted average of monthly means is not a day-weighted annual average. The clearest opposing monthly changes were in August, with a difference of -0.98 mm/day, and October, with a difference of +0.60 mm/day. These figures describe mean daily amounts, not monthly rainfall totals, and the overall mean does not imply that rainfall decreased in every month.

Changes in sunshine duration

Mean daily sunshine duration averaged across calendar months shows a difference of -0.12 hours/day compared with the earlier reference period. This is an unweighted summary of the monthly means, not a day-weighted annual measure or a claim that every month had less sunshine. The largest monthly decrease was in April, with a difference of -0.44 hours/day; by contrast, January recorded the largest monthly increase, at a difference of +0.16 hours/day. These are differences in mean daily hours for the specified months.