“up to 10 cm expected locally” in France this week, here’s what to expect

Updated this Tuesday, January 7, at 4 p.m. : orange snow-ice vigilance has been triggered by Météo France in several departments for this Wednesday, January 8, 2025. Discover the forecasts in this article.

After the departure of storm Floriane towards Norway, a new disturbance arrives in France from this Tuesday, January 7, 2025. And a cold air which rushes in from the north of Europe, against a milder air which rises from Azores, it gives snow on the plain.

These will first be showers “mixed at times with snow or sleet” this Tuesday afternoon, “from Normandy to Hauts-de-France, the Ardennes, Lorraine and Alsace”, estimates Météo France. Before more significant snowfall on Wednesday.

Snowfall expected north of the Seine

It all starts with a rainy disturbance coming from the southwest, which is gradually invading France from this Tuesday, January 7, 2025. However, “as always, France finds itself at the heart of an air mass conflict »explains to actu.fr the meteorologist and founder of the Météo-villes site, Guillaume Séchet.

As this disturbance grows, the heavy rains affecting the northern part of France will be confronted with the arrival of cold air “northern influence”. It is this which will cause snowfall on Wednesday January 8, 2025 while the south of the country will experience some mildness.

“It will not be over an area as large as that of the first weekend of January,” estimates Guillaume Séchet, confirming snowfall north of the Seineon an extreme northern corridor between Upper Normandy, Picardy, Nord-Pas-de-Calais and northern Champagne-Ardenne.

Concretely, there will be snow on the plains on a line going from Évreux (Eure) to Beauvais (Oise) and Charleville-Mézières (Ardennes).

Between 5 to 10 cm of snow in the plains

“It will be cold enough for this snow to hold on to the ground,” says Guillaume Séchet.

The size of this real layer of snow could reach “ between 5 to 10 cm locallyaccording to weather models.” It will be particularly visible “towards the Somme and the south of Pas-de-Calais”, notes the founder of the site Météo-villes.com.

For its part, Météo France mentions snowfall “also possible from the north of Île-de-France towards the Ardennes, but in smaller quantities, […] of the order of 1 to 3 cma little more about the relief of the Ardennes”.

Some models even evoke snow in Normandy, and to a lesser extent, in Brittany. Without certainty that it will hold on to the ground.

Snow accumulations between Tuesday and Thursday according to the French Arome model (map from Météociel). If the map is not displayed, click here.

Snow accumulations between Tuesday and Saturday according to the French Arpege model (map from Météociel). If the map is not displayed, click here.

Snow accumulations between Tuesday and Saturday according to the German Icon model (map from Météociel). If the map is not displayed, click here.

Snow also Thursday… and the return of an anticyclone

Snow will also be expected on Thursday January 9. And until Friday morning?

“The cold air will tend to gain ground, so why not snow a little further south? », says Guillaume Séchet.

It must be said that an anticyclone is back on Thursdayresulting in drier weather… but not uniformly across the territory, due to the arrival also of a new disruption coming from the Atlantic.

Snow on Thursday yes, but where precisely and with what accumulations? “Difficult to say, because the weather models do not all agree,” explains the meteorologist. For some, the snow in the plains may concern “Normandy, central France and the north of the Alps”. For others, Île-de-France and Champagne-Ardenne could be added to the list.

Everything will need to be refined depending on the position of the conflict between the cold air and the mild air that is playing out over France – and depending on who wins this showdown.

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