France is currently under widespread weather alerts as a significant winter storm continues to bring snow, ice, and flooding to numerous departments. while orange alerts have been lifted in seven areas, 41 departments remain on yellow alert as of Sunday, potentially disrupting travel and daily life for millions ahead of the holiday season. Météo France warns of 2 to 5 centimeters of snowfall-even at lower altitudes-before a shift to rain and rising temperatures begins Sunday.
France is bracing for continued winter weather as snow continues to fall across the country, prompting weather alerts for dozens of departments. The disruptions come as many prepare for the upcoming holiday season, raising concerns about travel and daily life.
France’s national weather service, Météo France, updated its alerts Sunday morning, lifting orange warnings for seven departments that had been in effect since Saturday. Those departments are:
- Aveyron
- Cantal
- Corrèze
- Creuse
- Puy-de-Dôme
- Seine-et-Marne
- Haute-Vienne
However, 41 departments remain under yellow alerts, primarily for extreme cold, but also including warnings for snow and ice, avalanches, and flooding. The affected areas include:
- Ain : flooding, extreme cold
- Allier : extreme cold
- Alpes-de-Haute-Provence : snow and ice
- Hautes-Alpes : snow and ice
- Ardennes : snow and ice, extreme cold
- Aube : extreme cold
- Aveyron : extreme cold
- Cantal : flooding, extreme cold
- Charente : flooding
- Charente-Maritime : flooding
- Corrèze : flooding, rising water levels
- Côte-d’Or : extreme cold
- Creuse : flooding
- Dordogne : flooding, rising water levels
- Doubs : extreme cold
- Drôme : flooding
- Gironde : flooding
- Isère : flooding, snow and ice, avalanches
- Jura : extreme cold
- Loire : extreme cold
- Haute-Loire : extreme cold
- Lot : rising water levels
- Marne : extreme cold
- Haute-Marne : extreme cold
- Meurthe-et-Moselle : snow and ice, extreme cold
- Meuse : snow and ice, extreme cold
- Moselle : snow and ice, extreme cold
- Nièvre : flooding, extreme cold
- Puy-de-Dôme : flooding, extreme cold
- Bas-Rhin : snow and ice, extreme cold
- Haut-Rhin : extreme cold
- Rhône : extreme cold
- Haute-Saône : extreme cold
- Saône-et-Loire : extreme cold
- Savoie : flooding, snow and ice, avalanches
- Haute-Savoie : flooding, snow and ice, extreme cold, avalanches
- Vendée : wind
- Haute-Vienne : flooding
- Vosges : extreme cold
- Yonne : extreme cold
- Territoire de Belfort : extreme cold
2 to 5 Centimeters of Snow Expected
According to a press release, Météo France says the weather system causing the snowfall will continue moving across the country overnight from Saturday to Sunday, from the Hauts-de-France region to the southern Massif Central.
It could temporarily leave 2 to 5 centimeters of snow, including in plains and at low altitudes.
Snowfall may be followed by icy rain.
Rain and Warming Temperatures on the Way
Rain is expected to replace the snow, with a new weather system arriving in Brittany Sunday morning. This system will quickly spread and bring rain to most regions.
These precipitations may be heavy from Aquitaine to the Massif Central as well as in the Alps. Near the Mediterranean, rainfall is light.
The rain will also cause temperatures to rise, with highs of 10 to 15 degrees Celsius (50 to 59 degrees Fahrenheit) from Brittany and Lower Normandy to the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean coast, 6 to 11 degrees Celsius (43 to 52 degrees Fahrenheit) elsewhere, and 2 to 7 degrees Celsius (36 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit) in the northeast.
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