Amsterdam or Lyon: which climate?
Amsterdam (The Netherlands) has a temperate oceanic climate, whereas Lyon (France) has a temperate oceanic climate, according to the Köppen-Geiger classification.
The values compared here are normals computed over 86 complete calendar years, from 1940 to 2025, using ERA5 reanalysis data from the Copernicus programme. The same method and the same period apply to Amsterdam and to Lyon.
Lyon is warmer than Amsterdam by 1.4 °C in annual average: 11.3 °C against 9.9 °C.
Lyon gets more rain than Amsterdam: 961 mm per year against 751 mm.
Lyon gets 8.8 hours of sunshine per day on average, against 7.8 hours in Amsterdam.
Lyon has warmed by +2.5 °C between 1940 and 2025, against +1.9 °C in Amsterdam. Lyon is therefore warming faster than Amsterdam. Both trends are statistically significant.
Amsterdam averages 2 hot days (≥ 30 °C) and 43 frost days per year; Lyon averages 14 and 54.
Data from ERA5 reanalysis (Copernicus Climate Change Service), redistributed under a CC-BY 4.0 licence. Normals are recomputed whenever the archive is updated.
| Indicator | Amsterdam | Lyon | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean daily temperature | 9.9 °C | 11.3 °C | +1.4 °C |
| Average daily high | 13.0 °C | 15.6 °C | +2.6 °C |
| Average daily low | 6.9 °C | 7.3 °C | negligible |
| Annual rainfall | 751 mm | 961 mm | +210 mm |
| Sunshine / day | 7.8 h | 8.8 h | +1.0 h |
| Hot days (≥ 30 °C) | 2 d/yr | 14 d/yr | +12 d/yr |
| Frost days (< 0 °C) | 43 d/yr | 54 d/yr | +11 d/yr |
| Rainy days (≥ 1 mm) | 147 d/yr | 141 d/yr | -6 d/yr |
| Mean relative humidity | 82 % | 75 % | -7 % |
| Average peak wind | 21.3 km/h | 14.9 km/h | -6.4 km/h |
A difference is only reported when it exceeds the resolution of the data. ERA5 is a reanalysis on a grid of about 31 km: two nearby cities often fall in the same cell, and below half a degree you are reading the grid, not the climate.