CLIMATE AND BIOGRAPHY                       ON PARIS

CLIMATE

Jan.    Feb.    Mar.    Apr.    May.    Jun.     Jul.    Aug.    Sep.    Oct.    Nov. Dec. MAX   6          7         12        16        20       23         25       24       21      16     10 (C) MAX    43       45        54       61       68        73        77       75       70       61     50 (F) MIN     1          1          4        6        10        13        15      14       12         8      5 (C) MIN     34         34       39       43       50        55       59       57      54        46       41 (F) RAIN   56          46       35       42      57         54       59      64        55        50     51 (mm) RAIN   2.2        1.8       1.4       1.7      2.3      2.2      2.4     2.6        2.2       2        2 (inches)

A temperature marine west coast climate exerts an important influence ont he life of the city. Mild winters (January average high temperature (6 c/75 f), and well distributed annual precipitation make it possible for sidewalk cafes, open-air markets and other clolorfull attributes of the urban scene to be enjoyed throughout the year.

GEOGRAPHY

Paris (city,France) city in noth central France, capital and largest city of the country, on the Seine River, about 370 km (about 230 ml) from its Atlantic Ocean outlet at Le Havre. Paris is situated in a low-lying basin; the city is mostly flat, although the river to the low hills that ring the city's edge. The highest natural feature within the city proper is the Butte deMontmarte, at 129 m (423 ft) above sea level. With an estimated population approching 10 million, the Paris metropolitan area contains nearly 20 percent of the nation's inhabitants and political life of France to an extraordinary degree; the population of Paris proper was 2,125,246 in 1999. The centralizing philosophy of successive governments has historically favored the city, thus exercising a poewerful attraction on virtually all of the nation's activities. Only since the 1960's have attemps been made to reduce the inordinate influence of Paris in French affairs and to strengthen the role of various regions and secondary cities. Paris is divided by the Seine, which enters in the southeast and loops to the north before leaving the city in the southwest. The river contains two islands: Ile de la Cite and the smaller Ile Saint Louis. The origilal site of Pris was on the Ile de la cite and the adjacent left (south) bank of the river. The Romans established a regional capital here in the 1st century AD, naming it Lutetia. With few tropographic construction on its growth.