A France cut in two: the weather on Friday will be mixed in the north of the country, with an alternation of sun and gray and choppy in the South with rain and wind, according to Météo France forecasts.
The meteorological agency also maintains orange vigilance for floods in Charente-Maritime, facing a “risk of flooding generating significant overflows”.
🔶 1 department in Orange (https://t.co/CSYEovTI83) pic.twitter.com/bwzeXnnZb5
— VigiMétéoFrance (@VigiMeteoFrance) March 8, 2024
It also reports "active Mediterranean disturbances on Friday and Saturday causing significant accumulations of precipitation in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and the Cévennes", with several yellow warnings for wind, thunderstorms and rain-flooding in the South, in particular in the southwest quarter.
Heavy rain expected
In detail, the clearings will still be quite clear in the northeast quarter this Friday morning, while the clouds are piling up in the northwest.
A disturbance will come up through the Pyrenees and the Gulf of Lion bringing with it rain and wind.
It will progress over the hours over the entire southern half, giving sustained rain, then will rise in the afternoon to Brittany, Burgundy and the gates of Paris, losing activity.
The rains will be particularly marked on the Côte d'Azur and in Languedoc, especially on the Cévennes relief, from the heights of Hérault to the south of Ardèche where they will persist all day.
Abundant and sometimes stormy precipitation is also expected on the southern flank of the Massif Central, “pushed onto the country by a depression which pivots on the Bay of Biscay”.
The accumulations of rain should be significant: “up to 80 to 100 mm in 24 hours near the Cévennes”, or “80 to 100 liters of water per square meter in the areas concerned”, notes Météo France.
🌧️The weather will be rough in the south-eastern quarter of the country, with heavy rain and wind from tomorrow and especially Saturday.
⬇️Friday, heavy rains on the southern flank of the Massif Central and in PACA particularly in the Var and Alpes-Maritimes.
Full point👉https://t.co/g0o4RLtkuZ pic.twitter.com/1Qp541gYLv
— Météo-France (@meteofrance) March 7, 2024
On the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur side, rain is also expected, particularly in the Var and the Alpes Maritimes where “up to 20/40 mm in 24 hours” is expected.
Snow will replace rain above about 1,200 m.
In the South-West, after the morning rainy spell, a line of showers could circulate and take on an unusual stormy character for the season, which could sometimes give rise to sleet, fine hail.
Up to 100 km/h expected in the South-East
The wind will be strong in the southern half, particularly in Occitanie, on the relief of Auvergne, and with a stormy episode on the Pyrenean high relief the following night.
Gusts are expected to reach more than 80 to 100 km/h in the Pyrenees, the Massif Central, Languedoc, Provence and the Côte d'Azur.
Strong gusts could reach the foothills of the Basque Country.
Morning temperatures will generally range from 0 to 5 degrees in the northern half, with locally still some light frosts near the Vosges and the Jura, and 4 to 9 degrees in the south.
The maximums will be close to 11 to 15 degrees, with up to 17 degrees in Corsica and up to 19 degrees in Roussillon.
Also read Saint-Pierre and Miquelon on red ice alert, unprecedented in the history of the archipelago
As for Saturday, intense rains are expected again in the southeast.
But “uncertainties” remain about “the maximum intensities of expected precipitation” in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and the reliefs of the Cévennes.
Another subject for vigilance: a “context of soils already saturated by the rains of the day before and the previous rainy sequence of last weekend”, underlines Météo France.
For the moment, orange flood alert is maintained in Charente-Maritime for Saturday, but the situation could still evolve.