After the cold, snow and freezing rain arrive in a large northern half of France. As of Tuesday evening, 18 departments are placed on orange alert for snow and ice, a number that will increase to 34 as of Wednesday. Faced with this situation, a meeting with the Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Béchu is scheduled for Tuesday around 17 p.m. Météo France does not plan to place any department on red alert in the face of this "winter rainfall".
Snow, ice and freezing rain - rain that remains liquid despite sub-zero temperatures and freezes instantly on contact with the ground - will hit the country hard until Thursday. In particular, the depression Irene which "develops off the Iberian Peninsula" and which "heads towards France". Here, day by day, is what to expect, according to the forecasts of Météo France established this Tuesday noon.
Tuesday: the beginning of a cold spell
The first snowflakes and ice are expected on Tuesday evening. Freezing rain is also expected due to the persistence of a cold air mass over the north of the country, which will come into contact with the Irene depression coming from the south.
A "dusting" of snow will affect the first northern third of the country - including the Paris region - which will then be replaced by "freezing rain from the beginning of the night" from Tuesday to Wednesday. "Light precipitation approaches an area from Normandy to Burgundy Franche-Comté, then progresses during the night to the north," details Météo France on X (ex-Twitter). On Île-de-France, travel will therefore be "complicated".
In the northern second third (in purple in the map below), light snow and then ice are expected. It will snow in the northernmost areas of the country. Snowfall of up to 5 cm is expected "on the northern tip".
▶️Tuesday evening: light precipitation approaches an area from Normandy to Burgundy/Franche-Comté, then progresses more northerly during the night. Precipitation, sometimes in the form of snow at first, then quite quickly freezing rain. pic.twitter.com/AmatsyRN42
— Weather France (@meteofrance) January 16, 2024
Wednesday: snow in the evening in Île-de-France
The rains will continue "from Brittany to the Grand-Est" Wednesday, continues Météo France. Rainfall of up to 60 mm is expected locally in Brittany, a region in which vigilance will therefore be required. Two departments, Finistère and Côtes-d'Armor, are on orange alert for rain and flooding that day.
Freezing rain and then snow will hit the northern third of the country. In Île-de-France, 2 to 5 cm of snow are expected in the evening of Wednesday.
A little further north of the Paris region, snowfall will fluctuate between 7 and 15 cm depending on the area. Locally, they can even form a 20 cm thick coat... The cold will persist and rain is also expected. On the northern tip of the country, snow - in smaller quantities - is also expected to fall.
At least 34 departments will remain on orange alert for snow and ice on Wednesday.
▶️ Wednesday: during the day, the rains continue from Brittany to the Grand-Est. Freezing rain or sometimes heavy snowfall expected.
⚠️In the evening, snowfall reaches the whole of the Ile-de-France from north to south and lasts until Thursday morning. pic.twitter.com/Baz3jDYXcH
— Weather France (@meteofrance) January 16, 2024
Thursday: snow-covered roads but end of the episode
Thursday, "the snowy episode ends for Normandy, Île-de-France and Picardy but the roads will still be well snowed," details Météo France. Between 2 and 5 cm of snow - especially in the Paris region - and up to 10 cm on part of the north and east of France are expected.
▶️Thursday: the snowy episode ends for Normandy, Ile-de-France and Picardy but the roads will still be snowy. In the morning, snow continues to fall in the east of the country. pic.twitter.com/YITFpRmtGn
— Weather France (@meteofrance) January 16, 2024
The disturbance is expected to gradually "shift" eastward. Snowfall will still affect the Grand-Est, Champagne and Alsace-Lorraine in the afternoon of Thursday. The west of France will then no longer be concerned.