More departments on snow alert

A BAND of snow and sleet is sliding down the west and south of the country, with Météo France continuing an orange alert for difficult conditions and icy roads along a line from eastern Brittany and Normandy to Aude and Hérault.

Conditions are expected to ease by the end of the afternoon but snow around 5cm deep could blanket much of the length of the country, reaching up to 10/15cm on high ground – although early risers in Brittany said they had rain, not snow.

Drivers in the north were warned to beware black ice, especially on exposed roads with winds gusting in the north-west to 80kph.

The orange alert covers Ille-et-Vilaine, Basse-Normandie, Mayenne, Sarthe, Maine-et-Loire, Indre-et-Loire, Cher, Allier, Corrèze, Cantal, Aveyron, Hérault and Aude.

13 départements en vigilance orange #neige, de la Manche à l'Indre-et-Loire, et de la Corrèze à l'Aude #E1matin pic.twitter.com/fK6NVwfM4U— Europe 1 (@Europe1) January 18, 2016

Motorway drivers are facing snow on the A11 (between Angers and Le Mans), the A81 (between Laval and Le Mans) plus the A84 near Fougères.

Northern departments will be hit mainly this morning with the bulk of the snow front dropping to the south by late morning with initial light snow on the Massif Central getting heavier, reaching up to 15cm in Cantal and 10cm in Aveyron.

The Mediterranean coast could even see some snow, but it is not expected to lie.

Temperatures have hit as low as -10C in some parts of the north-east and from 1C to 6C elsewhere but later today milder weather will come in from the west, with Météo France seeing a ‘return to more seasonal temperatures’ except in eastern France where the cold will continue.

Pas de transport scolaire dans la Manche lundi à cause de la neige https://t.co/EtuZr7nyLh pic.twitter.com/ZPKyjGMagS— France Bleu Cotentin (@fbleucotentin) January 17, 2016

Weather map: Météo France