High winds alert for Channel coast

RESIDENTS in northern France have been warned about high winds that are expected to reach 90kph in Normandy, 100kph in Pas-de-Calais and 110kph along the Channel coast.

Nord and Pas-de-Calais departments are being put on orange alert from 16.00 today with the alert continuing until early tomorrow morning.

Heavy rains this morning are a taste of what is coming but there will be a relative calm over midday before the storm hits Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Météo France said, with fierce south-westerly winds.

High winds have already caused flight cancellations in the UK, with British Airways reducing its short-haul schedule from Heathrow along with other airlines. The cancellations are due to air traffic control restrictions on the number of aircraft that can land in the strong winds.

Minimum temperatures from 9-13C across the north of France are a change from the weekend maximums of 25C at Nîmes and Montpellier but tell of a major change coming this weekend with colder and stormy weather arriving as a high-pressure area over the country moves south.

Heavy rains are expected as a polar depression moves across the north of the country, bringing the possibility of snow in the north-east.