Philippe Folgado // Photo credit: Romain Gautier / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP 5:04 p.m., February 22, 2024
Storm Louis hits France this Thursday.
28 departments are placed on orange alert for wind and rain-flooding.
Thunderstorms are also expected in the evening and they could cause tornadoes in the North-West departments, according to several French and European observatories.
Rain, gusts between 110 and 120 km/h and maybe... tornadoes.
Storm Louis sweeps across France this Thursday.
Météo France has placed 28 departments in the North and South-West on orange alert for wind and rain-flooding.
Thunderstorms are expected in the evening, which could generate tornadoes in the northern departments of the country.
28 departments in Orange (https://t.co/CSYEovTI83) pic.twitter.com/AIb5EAlxaD
— VigiMétéoFrance (@VigiMeteoFrance) February 22, 2024
“A risk of tornado 'in the North West of France and the Benelux'”
The French Observatory for tornadoes and violent storms, Keraunos, estimates that there is a "low, but not zero, risk of tornadoes in the west" of France.
The violent winds crossing France will strengthen at the end of the afternoon to reach between 90 and 120 km/h in places.
These winds could take on a “vortex aspect”, warns Météo France.
Estofex, a European group of meteorologists, also mentions a risk of tornadoes "in the North-West of France and the Benelux".
This area has been placed at alert level 2, i.e. a “severe” risk, with a probability of 15%.
28 departments in Orange (https://t.co/CSYEovTI83) pic.twitter.com/AIb5EAlxaD
— VigiMétéoFrance (@VigiMeteoFrance) February 22, 2024
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But this tornado phenomenon in France is not as rare as one might imagine.
Keraunos affirms that France “is not safe from very strong or even violent tornadoes”.
On average, between 40 and 50 tornadoes touch French soil.
Most of them have “very low to low” intensities.
A figure which has increased since the establishment of the Observatory in 2006 and which can be explained by the rise of new technologies and social networks which help to identify tornadoes.