Météo-France has placed 30 departments on orange snow-ice alert due to a disturbance which will begin late afternoon this Saturday and particularly affect the north and east of the country. “A disturbance associated with a lot of mild air will sweep across the entire country in a southwest/northeast direction this Saturday and overnight from Saturday to Sunday. In the departments in orange, this disturbance will encounter a mass of cold air, causing snowfall and especially freezing rain for a few hours, until the mild air takes over definitively,” indicates the meteorologists' bulletin.
Aisne, the Ardennes, the Marne, Haute-Marne, Meurthe-et-Moselle, the Meuse, the Moselle, the North, Oise, Pas-de-Calais, the Bas-Rhin, the Haut-Rhin, Seine-Maritime, the Somme, the Vosges et the Territory of Belfort were already placed on orange alert. The Ile-de-France departments were added, l’Orne, Eure-et-Loir, Eure, the Gold Coast, Dawn et Haute-Saône. This episode will affect “the south of the area concerned at the end of the afternoon” and will leave “the northern borders at the end of the night from Saturday to Sunday”.
Météo-France predicts snowfall “generally quite brief”, but warns that “they can be more persistent in the border departments of the Grand Est, possibly dropping up to five centimeters on the ground”. Freezing rain could then last “between one and three hours, which could cause traffic difficulties”.
“Delicate” traffic conditions
“Traffic conditions could be delicate in the areas concerned,” also warns Bison Futé, who calls on road users to “use extra caution, as well as to find out about changes in weather and traffic conditions before traveling. leave “. In Île-de-France, traffic speed is lowered by 20 km/h from 5 p.m. to midnight, on “all axes of the road network”, except the Paris ring road, indicated the police headquarters in a press release. The prefecture calls for “vigilance” and “caution”, recommending in particular to favor public transport, to equip your car with snow tires and to provide “minimum equipment (warm clothing, food, water)” in case where the vehicle would be immobilized by the weather.
Measures are also being taken regarding heavy goods vehicles: in Aube, from 6 p.m., they will be prohibited from overtaking and will have to reduce their speed by 20 km/h on the entire road network then, from 7 p.m., their circulation will be prohibited on national roads and highways. In Côte-d'Or, Doubs, Jura and Territoire de Belfort, heavy goods vehicles weighing more than 7.5 tonnes will no longer be able to drive from 7 p.m. This ban will be extended from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. to Marne, Haute-Marne, Haut-Rhin, Haute-Saône and Vosges.
An accident in Corrèze possibly linked to ice
In Corrèze, a department not yet classified as vigilant, an accident involving a heavy goods vehicle and three cars occurred at 8 a.m. on the A89 between the Egletons and Ussel-Ouest exits, according to Vinci Autoroutes, causing one minor injury.
The accident could have been caused by freezing rain that fell in the area. The A89 was then cut for 2.5 hours in the Bordeaux-Clermont direction, causing traffic jams.
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