How Météo Pyrénées became essential

• Magnificent photos of landscapes, spectacular videos of snow ... Météo Pyrénées has attracted tens of thousands of people on various social networks.
• The team of volunteers behind the project, seven years ago, has surrounded themselves with correspondents who allow them not to miss anything on the French side, but also on the Spanish side and in Andorra. To the chagrin of certain ski resorts.
• President of the association, Christophe Dedieu talks about his mode of operation and his projects.

And now the application, after the website created in August 2019. Within a month, Météo Pyrénées will offer a free mobile app that will mark a new stage in the adventure launched seven years ago by a handful of enthusiasts.

Fairytale images of snow at the summit of the Pic du Midi, videos of torrential rain in Ax-les-Thermes or hailstorms in Biarritz… 130,000 subscribers on Facebook, 15,500 on Twitter (including the “little sister” Météo Andorre) and 29,000 on Instagram are addicted to the work of a team of volunteers led by a trio aged 30 to 40: Ariégeois Christophe Dedieu and Xavier Pousse and Bigourdan Eric Castaings.

MIDI 🙌☀️
A few images before the warming up. Today is a nice mild day and a 0 beyond 3500m during the day before a little cloudy degradation this evening. 📷 @gregorybarzu #pyrenees #picdumidi pic.twitter.com/5XcVYvQYg5

“I grew up in Foix and I was going on vacation to Mérens-les-Vals [Haute-Ariège], says the first, president of the association Météo Pyrénées. When you're in the mountains, you like to know what's going to happen and why. It is also interesting to inform people. We are also passionate about photography. Eric is also a professional photographer. "

Instagram, the main provider of images

From the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, going up to Toulouse or Bordeaux and going down to the south of Barcelona, ​​nothing that comes from the sky escapes the trio. Particularly to Christophe Dedieu, specialist "ès" rummages on social networks. “Thanks to Xavier, our forecaster based in Bélesta [Ariège], we know what will happen and where, details the whole forty-something“ exiled ”cost in Pau, an official in the Ministry of Finance. We are doing research on the places concerned. "

151 km / h at Port d'Envalira at 2513m just now closed pass ❌ 📷 @MeteoAnd_OECC @Meteo_Pyrenees #andorra pic.twitter.com/DQEdkTPHKw

The growing popularity of Météo Pyrénées has made it easier: "80% of the photos come from Instagram and more and more, the people who take them send them to us or tag us," explains Christophe Dedieu. We then share them on Twitter and Facebook. We are talking here of punctual contributors, in addition to the fifty or so "permanent correspondents", just as voluntary as the co-founders, scattered all over the mountain range.

In French, Catalan and Spanish, while waiting for Basque

“We have several in strategic corners, notably three or four at Pas de la Casa, which send us images. This winter, a video of the snow removal from the port of Envalira [Andorra] has been viewed over a million times on Facebook. Depending on the location concerned, Météo Pyrénées speaks French, Catalan or Spanish. And probably soon Basque, to better cover the southwest of its area, its weak link to date.

The Facebook page which, in its early days, delivered “only” winter weather reports has become a four-season multimedia platform, which also offers traffic information and webcams. Much to the chagrin sometimes professionals of Ariège and Haut-Pyrenean stations who, at the beginning of February, did not appreciate certain images, according to them "badly chosen": they showed the thinness or even the absence of the snowpack during a winter stingy in powder.

BIARRITZ
Large coefficient (114) today, and 117 tomorrow.
👉 In Bayonne, the Adour flood could, combine with these coefficients, generate some overflows. To be continued
📷 @ marcourrutia1 pic.twitter.com/ZFH5H8gSMu

“Clashes, there have always been, says Christophe Dedieu. But it gets bigger as you get bigger. We had to delete a hundred comments and ban a hundred people. Even on my personal profile, I was treated to small pressures from employees or merchants. The reaction was radical: no more weather info on the ski resorts of 09 and 65. Until the end of the season and maybe more, if internet users, soon consulted on the subject, decide it…

Big #storms at #axlesthermes where the center has just suffered the # hail #Ariege #pyrenees 📷Nicolas Couteaux Fourchettes pic.twitter.com/blzh353711

And now ? After crowdfunding, Météo Pyrénées offers its fans to become members of the association, for a fee of 15 euros, to support its growth, with the installation of weather stations and new webcams, some of which will be reserved for them.

The objective, explained on the site: to become "one of the most important weather communities in France". "If we are there, it is because there was a vacuum, judge Christophe Dedieu. We are in a territory that does not really interest Météo-France. On their social networks, we mostly talk about the Alps and big cities. It seems that the Pyrenees massif, eternal forgotten in History, is taking its revenge.

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