Ice and snow alerts as cold snap hits France

The meteorological winter began on Tuesday, December 1, marking the beginning of the coldest months of the year, with low temperatures setting in around France.

And this bad weather is set to continue to at least the end of the week.

Ten departments have now been placed on yellow alert for snow and ice. They are: Ariège, Aude, Aveyron, Cantal, Corrèze, Creuse, Haute-Loire, Loire, Puy-de-Dôme and Tarn.

Three other departments have been placed on yellow alert for storms: the Alpes-Maritimes, Haute-Corse and the Var.

On Monday, the north-east of France experienced icy rain and low temperatures.

Forecaster Météo France states that temperatures on Wednesday will be below seasonal norms and there will be an “imposing cloud over the south-west”.

This will be accompanied by scattered rainfall over north-western France and western Brittany, and snowfall over the Pyrenees and the Massif Central.

From Thursday, there will be rain throughout the country, except for in the Mediterranean basin, “where the weather is still very sunny”, Météo France states.

However, it warns there could be strong winds there.

Read more:

Pyrénées-Orientales on orange storm alert for Friday night