An orange “thunderstorms” alert has been triggered for the day on Saturday in 34 departments while a strong stormy episode will cross most of the country, indicates Météo France.
The weather services have also placed 14 departments on orange “thunderstorm” alert for Sunday in the Grand-Est.
Saturday at 6 a.m., the departments of Tarn, Aveyron, Lot, Cantal, Allier and Ain went into orange “thunderstorm” alert for this Saturday afternoon. Puy-de-Dôme, Loire and Rhône were added to the list at 10 a.m.
Lightning arrives from Spain
They thus joined the 25 departments which were already there: Charente, Charente-Maritime, Cher, Gironde, Landes, Deux-Sèvres, Vienne, and all the departments of Grand Est and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.
“The altitude depression at the origin of the stormy degradation is currently rising over Spain towards the Pyrenees,” Météo France said on Saturday morning.
East hit at end of day
These storms are expected to affect Auvergne Rhône-Alpes in the afternoon, giving high intensities of rain, sometimes hail and powerful gusts of wind.
They will head towards Burgundy Franche-Comté at the beginning of the evening, to reach the Grand-Est in the evening, with still heavy rains, violent gusts of wind and hail, particularly in the north-east of the country where these storms will be the most violent.
Strong winds and storm alert: closure of large parks and cemeteries in Strasbourg
Due to the orange alert for thunderstorms accompanied by strong gusts of wind, the City of Strasbourg announced in a press release that it has decided as a precautionary measure to close the following six parks from 5 p.m.: Pourtalès, Orangerie, Contades, Citadelle, Schulmeister and Albert Schweitzer.
Strasbourg’s nine municipal cemeteries will also be closed, the press release specifies.
Their reopening will depend on the evolution of weather conditions and will be the subject of new information, the City also indicates.
