What You Need to Know About the Somme Department
We will present to you here a French department, an integral part of the Hauts-de-France region, in fact it is a department numbered 80 and named Somme. Indeed, its name is derived from a river that crosses its territory. Formerly, it was a territory associated with Oise and Aisne which used to be part of the Picardy region. Thus, it was only in 2016 that this department 80 formed the Hauts-de-France region by joining the departments of Nord, Pas-de-Calais, Nord, and Aisne.
The largest city in this department is called Amiens, but it is also its prefecture and the departmental capital. Furthermore, the sub-prefectures of the 80th French department are Abbeville, Montdidier, and Péronne.
Demographically, the Samarians (inhabitants of the Somme department) number 570,559 inhabitants, and given the area of the Samarian territory of 6,170 km2, the population density is 92 inhabitants per km2. Moreover, administratively, the Somme department is subdivided into Arrondissements, numbering 4, Legislative constituencies, numbering 5, 23 cantons, 14 intercommunalities, and 772 communes.
What Are the Neighboring Departments of the Somme Department?
Since the Somme department is an integral part of the Hauts-de-France region, this was not always the case, because it also used to be part of the Picardy region. This means that the department 80 of France has the Nord department, the Pas-de-Calais department, the Seine-Maritime department, and the Oise department as neighbors.
What Is the Climate Like in the Somme Department?
Indeed, the climate of the Somme department is also called Picard climate. That is to say, it is a temperate climate strongly influenced by winds coming from the West and the Maritime facade. If we consider rainfall in this department, precipitation reaches up to 800 mm at maximum and 600 mm at minimum. Compared to the side of the department overlooking the sea which is more exposed to rain, the other sides are much less rainy. But when we enter the winter season, average temperatures at the beginning of the year even reach 5°C. Added to this is also a lot of frost during 40 days of the winter period versus 70 days of frost if you go inland. In summer, however, average temperatures hover around 17°C; it is also a rainy period during summer, but only if the weather is not hot and dry.
Thus, there are several climatic zones in the Somme department:
Abbeville
In this part of the territory, the climate is oceanic because Abbeville is close to the English Channel. During winter and summer periods, there is much more rain because the climate can be somewhat temperate.
And when we talk about snow, it is not so rare because it snows about 18 days per year. Moreover, thunderstorms and heavy precipitation occur over 26 days and peak during July and August, and it is during this period that most of the precipitation falls, about 781 mm of precipitation over 128 rainy days.
When we talk about sunshine duration, it averages 1,678 hours annually, which is a consequence of the fact that the said department is located in the northern part of the country and also because Abbeville is strongly influenced by the ocean.
This means that temperatures never rise very high and also that during summer days there is a lot of heat, defined by temperatures up to 30°C. And during winter days, there is a significant drop in temperature, even reaching 5°C, which causes frost.
Amiens
When we talk about Amiens, this part of the Somme department is characterized by an oceanic climate. It is quite typical if we refer to the climates of the northern part of the country. This mainly results in a cool winter period and a mild winter period with a lot of precipitation, but consistent throughout the year.
The fact is also that the city of Amiens is so large that it has an urban heat island which causes the minimum temperatures to be higher compared to the rest of the areas in the department.
What are the main towns of the Somme department?
In this list, we offer you the best towns of the Somme department, these are the most touristic towns of the 80th French department.
- Amiens
- Abbeville
- Epécamps
- Méréaucourt
- Salouël
- Nesle-l’Hôpital
- Friville-escarbotin
- Sain-Valery-sur-Somme
- Albert
- Mers-les-Bains
- Péronne
What are the largest communes of the Somme department?
To establish this ranking, we referred to the area of the communes of the Somme department, so here are the 10 largest communes of the 80.
- Crécy-en-Ponthieu
- Hornoy-le-Bourg
- Amiens
- Quend
- Hescamps
- Doullens
- Saint-Quentin-en-Tourmont
- Vignacourt
- Rue
- Lucheux
