Puéchabon

 

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.

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.^[3] 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 (2,600 h/year), a hot summer 21.5 °C (71 °F), very dry air in summer, dry conditions in all seasons, strong winds (with a frequency of 40 to 50% for winds > 5 m/s), and little fog.^[4]

For the 1971-2000 period, the average annual temperature was 14 °C (57 °F) with an annual atmospheric temperature of 16 °C (61 °F). 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.^[3] 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, 12 kilometres (7 mi) away as the crow flies,^[5] is 15.5 °C (60 °F), and the average annual total rainfall is 652.4 mm.^[6][7]

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.^[8]

As of January 1, 2024, Puéchabon is classified as an ‘commune rurale à habitat dispersé’ (rural commune with dispersed settlement) according to the new seven-level commune density grid established by Insee in 2022.^{[l 1]} The commune is located outside of any urban unit.^{[l 2]} Additionally, Puéchabon belongs to the Montpellier attraction area, where it is designated as a commuter town.^{[Note 1][l 2]} This area, encompassing 161 communes, falls under the category of areas with 700,000 inhabitants or more (excluding Paris).^{[l 3]}

The land use in the commune, as recorded in the European biophysical land use database, Corine Land Cover (CLC), 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 (67.4%), forests (20.3%), permanent crops (7%), open spaces, with little or no vegetation (3.1%), urban areas (1.1%), heterogeneous agricultural areas (1.1%).^[9] Changes in the commune’s land use and infrastructure can be observed on various cartographic representations of the area: the Cassini map (18th century), the military topographic map (1820–1866), and IGN maps or aerial photographs from 1950 to the present day.^{[Map 1]}

 

Changes in the number of inhabitants have been documented through population censuses conducted in the commune since 1793. For communes with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants, a full census of the population is conducted every five years, with the legal populations for the intervening years estimated through interpolation or extrapolation.^[10] For this commune, the first complete census under the new system was carried out in 2005.^[11]

In 2021, the commune had a population of 504,^{[Note 2]} reflecting an increase of +5.88 since 2015 (Hérault: +7.29%, France excluding Mayotte: +1.84%).

• Communes of the Hérault department