Freezing rain and snow in northern France, site visitors restricted | EUROtoday

Published on : 01/17/2024 – 00:18

4 minutes

A chilly spell will hit a 3rd of France. Snow and ice are forecast in the course of the night time of Tuesday January 16 to Wednesday January 17, with site visitors restrictions which can prolong from West to East of the territory.

Fourteen departments from Haut-Rhin to La Manche are on orange snow-ice alert, in keeping with the ten p.m. bulletin from Météo-France. Their quantity will improve from midnight to achieve 38 departments on orange rain-flood and snow-ice alert.

This is an “episode of notable freezing rain, followed by an episode of locally marked snow and extensive refreezing at the back”, in keeping with Météo-France.

The circulation of heavy items autos over 7.5 tonnes is prohibited from 8 p.m. on the nationwide highway community in Calvados, Eure, Loiret, Manche, Orne, Seine-Maritime and Eure -et-Loir, in addition to in Mayenne on the RN12, between the junction of the RD34 and the restrict of the Orne division, indicated Bison Futé.

“The authorities have decided to restrict the circulation of heavy goods vehicles weighing more than 7.5 tonnes on the A10, A11 and A71 axes to and from Paris,” added Vinci Autoroutes. The ban will regularly prolong from 10 p.m. to the Île-de-France area and the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté area, then to Hauts-de-France and Alsace from midnight, the minister stated. of the Ecological Transition Christophe Béchu.

It is anticipated to snow in Nord-Pas-de-Calais. The Region determined to droop college and intercity transport site visitors “totally” on Wednesday, with partial resumptions on Thursday. In colleges, a minimal stage of care might be offered for households who can not take care of their kids.

School bus providers are additionally suspended in Doubs, Bas-Rhin, Moselle, Meuse, Haut-Rhin, Territoire de Belfort, Meurthe-et-Moselle and Côte-d’Or, outdoors the metropolis of Dijon.

In Normandy, the area introduced “suspend all school services and commercial lines” on Wednesday. However, center and excessive colleges will stay open.

Episodes of freezing rain and snowfall

“For Île-de-France, snow is expected, quickly replaced by rain. With the cold temperatures, freezing rain is to be feared from 10 p.m.,” specifies Météo-France.

“The police headquarters (…) will examine whether there is reason to trigger a traffic ban on the RN 118”, an vital highway to the southwest of the capital, “which you know is sensitive” to snowy episodes, stated Christophe Béchu.

During the day on Wednesday, it can rain from Brittany to the Grand Est, with “freezing rain or sometimes heavy snowfall (…) expected”, continues Météo-France.

Snow accumulations may attain “locally 10 to 20 centimeters in Upper Normandy, Picardy and southern Nord-Pas-de-Calais”. This snowy episode ought to regularly finish on Thursday.

Cold spells on the verge of extinction

“Snow episodes in the plains have been much less frequent since the 1980s,” signifies Météo-France on its web site.

In the previous, “the last recent episode of widespread snow in the plains over the northern half of the country was December 2010”, detailed Matthieu Sorel, climatologist at Météo-France. In February 2018, a extra localized episode prompted “heavy snowfall from the Central region to the Paris Basin, sometimes with more than 10 centimeters” regionally, he added.

Another “major episode of snow in the plains” happened in March 2013, once more extra localized, “notably in Normandy”, recalled Matthieu Sorel.

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In the mountain ranges, “the snow cover is very disparate,” added the forecaster. “The Northern Alps have excess snow at all altitudes (…) In the south of the Alps, there is an extremely low snowfall, just like in the Pyrenees and Corsica.”

Cold episodes have gotten rarer in France and throughout the planet, underneath the impact of worldwide warming which is decreasing their chance, period and depth, in keeping with climatologists. In France, “the month of December was very mild compared to normal (…) and then this month of January began with a small cold period”, underlined Matthieu Sorel.

With AFP