Météo-France has placed 54 departments on orange alert, including 31 for snow and ice, mainly in the northern part of the country and in the Alps.
The flakes fell with intensity on Paris and its suburbs on Thursday at midday, after the snow reached the north-western quarter of France where traffic conditions are “very delicate”. More than 50 departments are placed on orange alert for snow, ice and wind because of the Caetano storm. Passed in front of the church of Saint-Ouen (Seine-Saint-Denis), Samira Slimani, 67, wrapped her little dog in a quilted coat and put little boots on him. “You have to be ready for the snow, animals fear the cold”smiles the retiree who is nevertheless worried because her “apartment is very poorly insulated.” Pressed by the cold at the exit of a bakery in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine), Habiba Kadri is not bothered by the bad weather, “as long as transport does not stop”notes this hospital services agent who takes the RER À to go to work in a Parisian clinic.
Strong gusts of wind
Météo-France has placed 56 departments on orange alert, including 31 for snow and ice (after the lifting of the alert in Côtes-d'Armor and Ille-et-Vilaine), mainly in the northern part of the country and in the Alps. , and 25 for wind, from Loire-Atlantique to Gironde then on a line going to Savoie, including the two Corsican departments. “In Île-de-France, we expect 1 to 5 cm, locally 5 to 10 cm in the south of the region”continues Météo-France, which adds that snowfall “are also expected at low altitude in the Southern Alps”.
Further south, the wind will blow strongly with “gusts generally between 100 and 120 km/h on the coast of the departments placed on orange vigilance” and inland, up to “more than 150 km/h on the highest points of the Alps”. The Loire-Atlantique department warned mid-morning that the Saint-Nazaire bridge could close between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. if measured gusts exceed 120 km/h. In New Aquitaine, train traffic is very disrupted due to “preventive stoppage” traffic on 13 lines due to “exceptional meteorological event”with notably strong winds in the forecast. This includes major lines at regional level, such as Bordeaux-La Rochelle, Bordeaux-Mont-de-Marsan or Limoges-Périgueux. Added to this is the social movement underway at the SNCF, with, on the lines that are still running, 6 TER out of 10 and one Intercités out of two in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, and almost no impact on the TGVs.
Circulation difficile
Since 11 a.m., the circulation of trucks over 7.5 tonnes has been restricted, with a speed reduced by 20 km/h and without being able to overtake anywhere in Calvados, Côtes-d'Armor, Ille-et- Vilaine, Manche, Morbihan, Orne and Sarthe, Cher, Eure, Eure-et-Loir, Loir-et-Cher, Loiret, as well as in Île-de-France on the major routes. School transport is suspended on Thursday in Orne, Manche, Calvados, Eure and Eure-et-Loir. In Seine-Maritime, the “collective transport of children and school buses and interurban collective transport” will be prohibited from 6 p.m. this evening and again Friday morning following the worsening of Météo-France forecasts for the department. Strong winds could also cause avalanches in the Alps. “Extreme vigilance is required when practicing all mountain activities and mainly ski or snowshoe hikes” and Haute-Savoie “4 out of 5 avalanche risk on the Mont-Blanc massif”indicated the prefecture.
