Orange alert!
Météo France maintained orange vigilance on Wednesday for avalanche risks in the departments of Savoie and Haute-Savoie, and added Isère to the list.
These three departments, as well as Ain, have also been placed in orange rain-flood vigilance.
Faced with rising water levels in several rivers, the Ain has also been placed on flood orange vigilance, just like the Puy-de-Dôme.
🔶 5 deposits in #vigilanceOrange
Stay informed on https://t.co/rJ24zzmmy4 pic.twitter.com/68uoC0jdTJ
- VigiMeteoFrance (@VigiMeteoFrance) December 29, 2021
Concerning the avalanche risk, details Météo France, "the avalanche risk is very evolving into marked risk" on the following massifs: Chablais, Aravis, Mont-Blanc, Beaufortain, Haute-Tarentaise, Vanoise, Haute-Maurienne, Maurienne , Belledonne, Grandes-Rousses and Oisans. On the massifs of Bauges, Chartreuse and Vercors, the risk is "marked".
"Departures of wet snow avalanches carrying the entire snowpack were reported in the whole of the Northern Alps, rather below 2200m in this mid-afternoon", reports Météo France, in its bulletin published this Wednesday. “Many wet snow avalanches will continue to be triggered with the return of the rain, which can carry the entire snowpack in place. These avalanches could reach exposed road sectors as well as mountain infrastructures ”, predicts the meteorological institute.
"The peak of avalanche activity is underway and continues at the end of the afternoon until the middle of the night", writes Météo France.
“The avalanche activity should mark time with the gradual cessation of precipitation in the second part of the night.
However, the humidification of very thick snow packs at altitude can induce a lag time and avalanches can still occur at the end of the night and the beginning of the day on Thursday.
"
Rain and snowmelt
In the departments placed in orange vigilance for rain and floods, "the precipitations will continue in a rather sustained way until the middle of the night before weakening appreciably in the second part of the night and to cease tomorrow Thursday in the course of the morning", predicts there again Météo France. “We expect an additional 30 mm on the Bugey and the Prealps, up to 60 mm in places on the ridges,” explains the institute. The situation could be worsened by the melting of snow which “will be added to the precipitation (the equivalent of 20 to 30 mm in 24 hours)” below 1,500 meters.
As for the departments in orange vigilance for the risk of floods, they pay there the accumulation of rain in recent days.
"Many rivers have reacted, the most significant floods are expected on the Ain (
in the Ain
) and the Dore aval (
in the Puy-de-Dôme
) which are placed in orange vigilance", predicts Vigicrues .
“Moderate increases are still expected on prices placed on yellow alert, more significant increases and damaging overflows are expected on Dore aval and Ain.
"