Thunderstorms will rage across a large part of France this Saturday. Météo-France has placed 25 departments on orange alert for part of the night, until early morning and then late in the day.
The 25 departments concerned are those of the Grand-Est region and Bourgogne Franche-Comté but also Cher, Landes, Gironde, Charente, Charente-Maritime, Vienne and Deux-Sèvres.
In the South-West, Météo-France expects a “active rainstorm episode requiring special monitoring given the associated rainfall accumulations”. In the Northeast, “the highly stormy summer situation” will require “particular vigilance given the geographical extent and intensity of the forecast phenomena”. Furthermore, in this region, in addition to intense electrical activity, “these storms can cause violent gusts of wind, hail and heavy accumulations of rain in a short time“.
“Initially, strong thunderstorms affect the regions of Landes in Poitou at the end of the night. They are mainly accompanied by heavy rain, and locally by hail”explains Météo-France. “Rainfall accumulations over a few hours could reach 50 to 80 mm. Then, a second wave will move from the southwest to the northeast of the country during the afternoon/evening. The storms will be more violent over a large northeast quarter of the country, with the possibility of rainfall accumulations of 50 to 80 mm in a short time, very strong gusts of wind (locally 100 km/h or more) and large hail.”
