France puts 11 departments on orange alert for snow and ice

11 departments in France are on orange (second-most severe) weather snow and ice alert, including in the mountain regions of the Pyrenees, Alps, and Massif central, with up to 40cm of snow expected.

The departments on snow and ice alert are: Creuse, Corrèze, Puy-de-Dôme, Ain, Isère, Savoie, Haute-Savoie, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Hautes-Pyrénées, Ariège and Haute-Garonne.

In addition, the department of Pas-de-Calais is on orange alert for flooding, and yellow alert for rain and snow, meaning 12 departments in total are on orange alert.

In the Alps and Jura regions, as much as 20-40cm of snow is expected, while in the Massif central between 10-30cm is forecast.

It comes as temperatures dropped considerably this weekend, to between 2-3C below the seasonal average, and as low as -6C in some areas today (Sunday November 28).

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