The area of the Lario has a varied climate characterized by moderately hot summers (the average values of the maximum temperatures is less then 30°C) and cold winters, especially if they are compared with the milder Mediterranean winters; frequent are the night frosts in the 3 winter months.
The Lake Como climate is enjoyable to stay all year, actually the citrus fruits grow up and in some areas there are Olive trees, its fruit is used to prepare a good and well-know local oil.
There are also others exceptional events, from the meteorological point of view, which make so charming the Lario: in winter, e.g., compared to a snow average of 40-60 cm can happen, like in the January 2006, that in 36 hours there was more then 70 cm of snow or more like the winter 1985 when after a couple of days with polar temperatures (more then -15°C) there was 5 snowing days, for a total higher then a meter or again the raining winter 2013/2014 when there was 650mm of rain and in the plain was counted few meters of snow.
At the other hand, also in summer we can find extreme situations such as the warm 2003 when we registered 54 days with temperatures over 30°C with peaks of 35°C, very different was the summer 2014 with 1000 mm of rain and few sunny days, a strange event that has not been seen for at least 20 years.
Frequent in summer also the storms, which especially near the mountains and in the second part of the day, in the afternoon, can turned into intense rain and hail; they have the good job to refresh the air during the hot sunny afternoons. At the end is a must to nominate the 2 winds that influence the climate of the Lario: the Breva and the Fohn.
The Breva is usually generated in the afternoon and blow from Sud to Nord, along the basin of the Lario, refreshing during the summer and accentuating the cold feeling in the winter. The Fohn is a wind coming from Nord which bypassing the Alps, during its down to the Sud side it lost its humidity and become hot very fast (about 1°C every 100 mt). In winter it has the merit (or the fault) to raising the temperature of 15/20°C in a few minutes.
But pay attention if you want to do some excursion in the mountains, if you leave and there is Fohn and the degrees are 10 on a Plain, at 2000 mt you’ll can find a temperature of -10°C…. So cover you up!
