London or Lyon: which climate?
London (United Kingdom) 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 London and to Lyon.
Lyon is warmer than London by 1.1 °C in annual average: 11.3 °C against 10.2 °C.
Lyon gets more rain than London: 961 mm per year against 615 mm.
Lyon gets 8.8 hours of sunshine per day on average, against 7.5 hours in London.
Lyon has warmed by +2.5 °C between 1940 and 2025, against +1.8 °C in London. Lyon is therefore warming faster than London. Both trends are statistically significant.
London averages 1 hot days (≥ 30 °C) and 36 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 | London | Lyon | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean daily temperature | 10.2 °C | 11.3 °C | +1.1 °C |
| Average daily high | 13.4 °C | 15.6 °C | +2.2 °C |
| Average daily low | 6.9 °C | 7.3 °C | negligible |
| Annual rainfall | 615 mm | 961 mm | +346 mm |
| Sunshine / day | 7.5 h | 8.8 h | +1.3 h |
| Hot days (≥ 30 °C) | 1 d/yr | 14 d/yr | +13 d/yr |
| Frost days (< 0 °C) | 36 d/yr | 54 d/yr | +18 d/yr |
| Rainy days (≥ 1 mm) | 123 d/yr | 141 d/yr | +18 d/yr |
| Mean relative humidity | 80 % | 75 % | -5 % |
| Average peak wind | 20.4 km/h | 14.9 km/h | -5.5 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.