Saint-Girons, Ariège

Subprefecture and commune in Occitanie, France

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Subprefecture and commune in Occitania, France

Coat of arms

Location of Saint-Girons

(2020–2026) Jean-Noël Vigneau^[1]Area

19.13 km² (7.39 sq mi)Population

(2021)^[2]

6,250 • Density330/km² (850/sq mi)Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET) • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)INSEE/Postal code

09261 /09200

Elevation387–1,200 m (1,270–3,937 ft)
(avg. 391 m or 1,283 ft)¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Saint-Girons (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃ ʒiʁɔ̃] ^ⓘ; Occitan: Sent Gironç) is a commune in the Ariège department in southwestern France.

History

Antiquity

Unlike its close neighbour Saint-Lizier, Saint-Girons isn't an ancient city; there was however a lucus on its present territory where some Roman finds were made during the construction of the train station in the beginning of the twentieth century. Modern-days district Le Luc is considered to owe its name to this ancient lucus.

Foundation

The city is named after Saint Girons, a saint from fifth-century Landes who evangelized Novempopulania. In the ninth century some of his relics were supposedly buried in Saint Girons' Church, around which the city later developed.

Climate

Saint-Girons has a moderate but warm oceanic climate, that is quite prone to temporary vast extremes in temperature as a result of its inland position.

Climate data for Saint-Girons, Ariège (1981–2010 averages)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	22.4 (72.3)	31.2 (88.2)	29.0 (84.2)	29.0 (84.2)	32.1 (89.8)	38.9 (102.0)	38.2 (100.8)	38.6 (101.5)	36.5 (97.7)	33.3 (91.9)	26.4 (79.5)	25.0 (77.0)	38.9 (102.0)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	10.3 (50.5)	11.3 (52.3)	14.2 (57.6)	16.0 (60.8)	19.5 (67.1)	22.9 (73.2)	25.5 (77.9)	25.6 (78.1)	23.0 (73.4)	19.0 (66.2)	13.7 (56.7)	10.9 (51.6)	17.7 (63.9)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	0.3 (32.5)	1.1 (34.0)	3.3 (37.9)	5.2 (41.4)	8.9 (48.0)	12.5 (54.5)	14.5 (58.1)	14.3 (57.7)	11.2 (52.2)	8.0 (46.4)	3.5 (38.3)	0.9 (33.6)	7.0 (44.6)
Record low °C (°F)	−18.7 (−1.7)	−16.5 (2.3)	−12.8 (9.0)	−4.2 (24.4)	−1.1 (30.0)	2.2 (36.0)	5.2 (41.4)	4.7 (40.5)	1.3 (34.3)	−4.0 (24.8)	−10.2 (13.6)	−12.3 (9.9)	−18.7 (−1.7)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	83.3 (3.28)	61.6 (2.43)	80.2 (3.16)	104.6 (4.12)	101.8 (4.01)	77.4 (3.05)	52.2 (2.06)	72.6 (2.86)	73.0 (2.87)	80.1 (3.15)	82.0 (3.23)	83.4 (3.28)	952.2 (37.49)
Average precipitation days	10.4	9.2	10.7	12.0	12.2	9.3	7.2	8.9	8.6	10.5	9.8	10.0	118.9
Average snowy days	3.1	3.4	2.7	1.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	1.4	3.1	15.1
Average relative humidity (%)	79	77	74	75	78	78	76	78	78	81	81	80	77.9
Mean monthly sunshine hours	119.3	130.5	169.2	168.7	179.4	189.3	204.6	207.2	190.1	152.4	117.2	108.7	1,936.3
Source 1: Météo France^[3]^[4]
Source 2: Infoclimat.fr (humidity and snowy days, 1961–1990)^[5]

Population

Inhabitants of Saint-Girons are called Saint-Gironnais.

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1793	2,749	—
1800	3,054	+1.51%
1806	3,348	+1.54%
1821	3,868	+0.97%
1831	4,381	+1.25%
1836	4,282	−0.46%
1841	3,901	−1.85%
1846	4,142	+1.21%
1851	3,981	−0.79%
1856	4,005	+0.12%
1861	4,576	+2.70%
1866	4,745	+0.73%
1872	4,690	−0.19%
1876	4,953	+1.37%
1881	5,191	+0.94%
1886	5,459	+1.01%
1891	5,448	−0.04%
1896	5,915	+1.66%

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1901	6,018	+0.35%
1906	5,990	−0.09%
1911	5,929	−0.20%
1921	5,749	−0.31%
1926	6,178	+1.45%
1931	6,120	−0.19%
1936	6,406	+0.92%
1946	7,026	+0.93%
1954	6,841	−0.33%
1962	7,368	+0.93%
1968	7,971	+1.32%
1975	8,130	+0.28%
1982	7,260	−1.60%
1990	6,596	−1.19%
1999	6,254	−0.59%
2007	6,552	+0.58%
2012	6,346	−0.64%
2017	6,383	+0.12%

Source: EHESS^[6] and INSEE (1968–2017)^[7]

Sport

Stage 8 of the 2009 Tour de France finished in Saint-Girons, after travelling 176 km from Andorra la Vella.

Stage 9 of the 2013 Tour de France started here.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saint-Girons (Ariège).

^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises (in French). 2 December 2020.
^ "Populations légales 2021". The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
^ "Données climatiques de la station de Saint-Girons" (in French). Meteo France. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
^ "Climat Midi-Pyrénées" (in French). Meteo France. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
^ "Normes et records 1961-1990: Saint-Girons - Antichan (09) - altitude 411m" (in French). Infoclimat. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
^ Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Saint-Girons, EHESS (in French).
^ Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE