Autumn arrives with rainstorms
Large areas of France on yellow alert as Atlantic depression ends Indian summer – with chance of first snow in Alps
AUTUMN blew in with a bang over the weekend with a depression sweeping in from the Atlantic sending temperatures plummeting and bringing the Indian summer to an end with massive thunderstorms and fierce winds.
Rain is expected across much of the country but only Ardèche was put on orange alert by forecasters at Météo-France for heavy rainfall and possible flooding.
Elsewhere, a large swathe of the country from Pas-de-Calais along the length of the Channel, down the Atlantic coast and along the Pyrenees is on yellow alert, as are departments the length of the Rhône.
Yesterday Ardèche, Gard and Hérault were on orange storm alert and the Languedoc-Roussillon region is again expected to be heavily hit today and tomorrow, with the possibility of a repeat of the storms of September 18-19 that saw three months of rain fall in a few hours. Only Aude avoids being put on yellow alert.
Winds reaching up to 80kph and heavy rains were battering Brittany and northern coasts this morning and storms are building in the Rhône and Saône valleys.
The depression crossing France towards the Mediterranean is expected to be blocked over the Golfe de Lion, bringing heaving rains to Languedoc-Roussillon this afternoon and to the south-east tomorrow.
With temperatures approaching record levels, October was abnormally calm and mild but the move into November and the arrival of the Atlantic depression saw temperatures fall and storms building up. Météo-France says it expects the first snows in the Alps.
Weather graphic: Météo-France
