Puéchabon

Puéchabon is a commune in the Hérault department in the Occitanie region in Southern France.

Geography

The commune borders Causse-de-la-Selle to the north, Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert to the north and west, Aniane to the south, and La Boissière to the southeast.

Climate

In 2010, the climate of the commune is classified as a frank Mediterranean climate, according to a study based on a dataset covering the 1971-2000 period. In 2020, Météo-France published a typology of climates in mainland France in which the commune is exposed to a Mediterranean climate and is part of the Provence, Languedoc-Roussillon climatic region, characterized by low rainfall in summer, very good sunshine, a hot summer, very dry air in summer, dry conditions in all seasons, strong winds, and little fog.
For the 1971-2000 period, the average annual temperature was with an annual atmospheric temperature of. The average annual total rainfall during this period was 931 mm, with 6.9 days of precipitation in January and 3.1 days in July. For the subsequent period of 1991 to 2020, the average annual temperature observed at the nearest weather station, located in the commune of Saint-André-de-Sangonis, away as the crow flies, is, and the average annual total rainfall is 652.4 mm.
For the future, climate parameters for the commune projected for 2050, based on different greenhouse gas emission scenarios, can be consulted on a dedicated website published by Météo-France in November 2022.

Urbanism

Typology

As of January 1, 2024, Puéchabon is classified as a ‘commune rurale à habitat dispersé’ according to the new seven-level commune density grid established by Insee in 2022. The commune is located outside of any urban unit. Additionally, Puéchabon belongs to the Montpellier attraction area, where it is designated as a commuter town. This area, encompassing 161 communes, falls under the category of areas with 700,000 inhabitants or more.

Land Use

The land use in the commune, as recorded in the European biophysical land use database, Corine Land Cover, is characterized by a high proportion of forests and semi-natural habitats, accounting 90.8 % in 2018, an approximately equivalent proportion compared to that of 1990, 91.2%. The detailed distribution in 2018 was as follows: shrub and/or herbaceous vegetation environments, forests, permanent crops, open spaces, with little or no vegetation, urban areas, heterogeneous agricultural areas. Changes in the commune’s land use and infrastructure can be observed on various cartographic representations of the area: the Cassini map, the military topographic map, and IGN maps or aerial photographs from 1950 to the present day.