As expected, storm Caetano hit Haut-Rhin and, to a lesser extent, the South of Bas-Rhin hard. Météo-France recorded up to 25 cm of snow in the plains this Friday, November 22, and firefighters in the area had to intervene nearly 50 times during the night.
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The early snow episode had been forecast for several days, it actually took place between this Thursday, November 21 and this Friday morning, particularly in Haut-Rhin. In its bulletin published at 6 a.m., Météo France provides an initial assessment of the bad weather. “Eastern Franche-Comté and Haut-Rhin are the areas most affected by the snow episode. There are snow depths of 15 to 25 cm of snow..”
The bulletin specifies that the snow cover reaches on average 10 to 15 cm in the Vosges department. “The southern parts of the departments on yellow snow-ice alert are also affected by a layer of snow of 3 to 10 cm and locally 15 cm“, the bulletin continues.
Bas-Rhin has been placed on yellow alert since Thursday, November 21, and the south of the department, around Saverne, was actually affected by moderate snowfall. Météo-France concludes that snowfall is now over in all departments on orange alert.
The negative temperatures overnight worsened traffic conditions throughout the area. “At the end of the night from Thursday to Friday, temperatures sometimes dropped sharply in snowy areas. At 6 a.m., they are generally between -3 and -10 degrees.” While this range obviously includes the mountainous areas of the Vosges, it underlines the extent of widespread nighttime frost. “These negative temperatures in the second part of the night allowed a widespread refreezing of wet and snow-covered roads which could make them very slippery, hence an extension of the orange alert until Friday midday.“
Haut-Rhin firefighters carried out 46 interventions during the night. Around fifteen of them concerned road accidents, and around thirty involved clearing roads blocked by trees or torn cables. The European Community of Alsace (CEA) reported around fifty agents mobilized throughout the sector this morning for various road-related interventions. No serious injuries were reported, Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin included.
Traffic is still seriously disrupted this Friday morning according to the Inforoute Alsace website, particularly south of Mulhouse or towards Munster. Trams and tram-trains are at a standstill in Mulhouse, while in Colmar traffic is “tricky” and “could cause delays” according to the Trace transport network website. Announced since Thursday afternoon, the ban on school transport concerns Haut-Rhin exclusively.
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