Alsace was ultimately spared. While violent storms were forecast this Saturday evening, the Haut-Rhin and the Bas-Rhin were crossed by rain and classic storms in the evening and at night. Wind of course, lots of lightning, especially in Sundgau and around Mulhouse, and a little rain, soiled by the sand of the Sahara, but nothing unusual after strong heat.
According to forecasts from Météo monitoring Alsace, which published its last bulletin at 12:30 a.m., “The risk of thunderstorms is rapidly decreasing in Alsace with the wind having driven away the mild and unstable air. Locally, a thunderstorm will still be possible in the plains, but without great severity. The remarkable instability values this afternoon were not fully exploited. The thunderstorms remained further west and progressed with difficulty towards Alsace, only affecting a western part of the region.“.
Faced with the risks (the two departments were classified as orange vigilant for storms by Météo France), Many festive events have been cancelled, as well as TER connections. Forecasters have therefore been criticized on social networks since Saturday evening, but Loïc Alter, forecaster for Météo Suivi Alsace, defends himself: “Everyone can form their own opinion on the matter, we have nothing to prove as volunteers. But from the moment we have repeated several times that between the foothills and the plain of Alsace the storms were uncertain, it is difficult to reproach us for not having been transparent.“
Other departments affected
And he continues: “the risk of severe phenomena was far from negligible. While Alsace did not have any severe phenomena, some municipalities in other departments in the North East were less fortunate: in Yonne, 130 km/h was recorded in Tonnerre or in Aube, 107 km/h observed in Troyes or large hailstones fell locally in the Meuse“.
