French weekly weather forecast January 19 - 23: colder and lots of rain

A rainy week is in store in the south and south-east of France, as separate weather patterns move inland from the Atlantic and Mediterranean. 

Temperatures will begin to slowly drop as the days advance with national averages set to fall below seasonal norms by the start of next week. 

Monday January 19 

Rain in the western Mediterranean and Corsica will remain for much of the day, a leftover from the storm conditions experienced over the weekend. 

Schools have been closed in Narbonne (Aude) due to the rain – with school transport services across the department suspended – and several parks and public places have been closed in Aude and Hérault, with certain events cancelled. 

Around 2,500 homes remain without electricity due to the conditions, and firefighters have attended hundreds of callouts over the weekend. 

Heavy snowfall is forecast in the Pyrénées as well as Corsica, with storms and avalanches possible.

Four departments - two in Corsica as well as Aude and Pyrénées-Orientales - remain on a heightened tier-three orange alert for heavy rain/flash flooding. Hérault is also on a heightened alert for river flooding from the Aude river. 

From around midday onwards, rain will begin to fall along the Atlantic coast, Normandy, Brittany, and the Pyrénées and will be limited mostly to coastal areas and the mountainous foothills. 

Highs of 10C - 11C, rising to 15C in Nice, is a brief return to warmer than usual weather for winter. 

In the east, where a dry and cold weather front remains, it is noticeably cooler. Highs of around 5C are possible, but in most areas it will struggle to reach above 2C. 

Tuesday January 20 

Conditions in the south-east will begin to improve (albeit temporarily), with rain set to end by the early morning in Corsica and around midday near Perpignan. However, winds of up to 80 km/h are still possible in the Var.

Weak showers will continue in the west – particularly in Brittany – but elsewhere a dry if cloudy day is expected. 

Temperatures will remain similar to Monday, although they may reach highs of 13C in the Pays-Basque. 

Wednesday January 21 

Rain will continue to fall along the western coast from Biarritz to Brittany, with the latter seeing persistent drizzle all day. 

As the evening progresses, rain will move inland alongside some fairly strong winds, eventually reaching Paris and Lyon before the end of the night.

In the south, it will gradually move across the mountain foothills.

Rain will start to fall overnight in Marseille and Toulouse, due to an incoming bout of Mediterranean rain set to cover much of France at the end of the weekend.

Temperatures will begin to drop in the north, with highs of 6C - 7C and around 2C along the German border. The south is not expected to see a change.

Thursday January 22 

A new weather system on Thursday will bring rain to most of France, with only the far north around the Belgian border and the east remaining dry. 

Rain will sweep inwards from the south to quickly cover most areas. 

Forecasters remain uncertain on the intensity of the rain, and so far expect it to be mostly limited to showers except in the Massif Central, where a new bout of heavy rain is possible. 

It is too early for state forecaster Météo France to provide official warnings but heightened alerts may be put in place in the area for heavy rain or flash / river flooding, particularly after heavy rainfall saturated soils last weekend.

Whereas parts of the west will see sunny periods in between the rainfall, it will remain cloudy in the centre and north. 

Friday January 23 

Yet another weather system bringing rain will move in to cover France, arriving from the Atlantic and covering the west and centre of the country. 

It will again impact most of France – including the north – bringing showers and more persistent rain to the Massif Central and Brittany. 

Temperatures will drop by around 1C, leading to highs of 5C - 7C in parts of central France.

Early forecasts for the weekend point towards further rain in the south and west, with the north and east remaining mostly dry.