French weekend weather forecast April 11 - 12: brutal temperature drop
Maximum temperatures to drop by around 10C in many regions. Rain and storms also forecast
Temperatures will drop across the country as rain hits several regions. Archive photo shows spring rain in Paris
Pierre Laborde/Shutterstock
Temperatures will plummet by around 10C in many of France this weekend. Most regions will also see persistent rainfall if not storms.
The arrival of an Atlantic weather system on Saturday will bring rain and clouds sweeping across France from the west, with temperatures across the south dropping dramatically throughout the weekend.
Friday April 10
Friday provides a hint of the coming conditions in the north, where clouds will dominate despite a lack of rain.
Between Thursday and Friday, daily highs will drop by at least 5C north of the Loire, and in parts of Île-de-France and Hauts-de-France this will be closer to 10C or 11C.
Paris will go from highs of 27C on Thursday to around 16C on Friday, for example.
In the south sunshine remains prominent, particularly in the south-west and along the Mediterranean coastline.
While temperatures will fall slightly across most of the south, they will remain unchanged around Montpellier (potentially reaching 30C) and even increase slightly in the Pays-Basque, from 18C on Thursday to around 24C on Friday.
Saturday April 11
A calm start to the morning will be swept away around midday, with the arrival of the Atlantic disturbance.
It will bring rain to much of the western coastline and will quickly sweep across France, bringing a ribbon of rain from Bordeaux to the north-east.
Central areas are forecast to see storms, as the low-pressure system clashes with the high-pressure wind previously in place over the country.
The east will remain calm and springlike, with higher temperatures than almost anywhere else.
The south-east, despite being cooler than in recent days – highs of around 18C compared to over 20C – will remain sunny and dry.
Temperatures will remain considerably cooler in the north, with highs of around 15C in Paris and potentially 12C in more rural areas.
They will however remain high across the east and south, with Lyon seeing highs of 26C despite the risk of storms.
The south-west will be the first southern area to be impacted by the temperature drop, with highs of 13C in the Pays-Basque nearly half of what they were on Friday.
Sunday April 12
Rain will continue to dominate the west of France in the morning, as the low-pressure system entrenches itself.
From midday onwards, rainfall will become sporadic across France, but with skies grey from Brittany to the Italian border, almost everywhere is at the risk of showers.
Rain is almost certain in central areas as well as the Rhône Valley/inland Provence, where storms are possible in the low-lying Alpine mountains.
Temperatures remain unchanged around Paris and the north, but in the east will drop by more than 10C, from 22C on Saturday to around 9C on Sunday.
In the south-west, temperatures will struggle to reach above 10C, despite being well over 20C on Friday.
The western Mediterranean coast, where showers are forecast intermittently throughout the day, will see temperatures halve from around 26C to 13C.
Early forecasts for next week point towards mixed conditions, with pockets of rain spread throughout France but the return of sun and temperatures climbing back to mid-April averages.
