Friday weather: 11 departments on orange snow-ice alert

Marlène Duret, with AFP 7:20 p.m., March 31, 2022

Friday the snowy episode, unusual for early spring, will continue, indicates Météo-France in its forecast bulletin.

Orange snow-ice vigilance will concern 11 departments: Nord(59), Pas-de-Calais(62), Somme(80), Seine-Maritime(76), Eure(27), Calvados( 14), Orne(61), Creuse(23), Puy-de-Dôme(63), Loire(42) and Haute Loire(43).

Snow in the Paris region

It will snow in the morning in the Hauts de France, Haute-Normandie, the Paris region, the east of the Center Val de Loire, Burgundy, Limousin and in Auvergne Rhône-Alpes.

During the afternoon the snow will temporarily stop in the north of the country, replaced by rain.

On the other hand, the snowfalls will persist and will increase in the afternoon on the Massif Central and the Alps.

The snow may temporarily bleach the ground in the plain and from 300m the accumulations may reach 2 to 5 cm, locally 5 to 10 cm.

On the Massif Central, the Jura and the north of the Alps, 10 to 20 cm of snow are expected from 600/700m.

In the Grand-Est, the sky will be overcast but snowfall will be scattered.

This winter weather will be accentuated by the north wind.

To the west, from Brittany to Aquitaine, the sky will be variable.

Minimums between -2 and 2 degrees from north to south

Over the Pyrenees, the sky will remain cloudy and it will snow intermittently at low altitude and above 800m we expect 10 to 20 cm.

In the Mediterranean regions, the weather will generally be dry but the tramontana and the mistral will be strong, locally exceeding 100 km/h.

On the Island of Beauty, a strong westerly wind will accompany showers.

In the following evening and night, the return snowfall will be reactivated. 

Temperatures will be cold, with minimums most often between -2 and 2 degrees from north to south, 4 to 8 degrees on the Atlantic coast and around the Mediterranean.

The maximum will also drop sharply with 3 to 7 degrees on the eastern half, 6 to 10 degrees in the west, another 10 to 17 on the Côte d'Azur and Corsica.