After fairly calm weather and abnormal mildness for the season, the weather will be disrupted this week, accompanied by a significant drop in temperatures from Tuesday, especially in the east of the country.
Turtlenecks are back. After several weeks of abnormal mildness for the season, temperatures are dropping this week with the arrival of a cold drop from Germany and heading towards Portugal, via France. It will mainly affect the East, then the South of the country and will be felt especially mid-week.
A cold drop is a “pocket of very cold air located at an altitude of more than 5,000 meters”, indicates Météo-France. It occurs when the polar jet stream, this very powerful current which is located between the Bahamas and the English Channel in winter, becomes distorted. It then creates a pocket called a cold drop, which then descends below our latitudes, causing the mercury to drop rapidly.
This cold drop comes as France has enjoyed calm weather in recent days, under the influence of anticyclones. The latter will retreat towards the British Isles, letting cold air enter central Europe, according to The Weather Channel.
Located offshore, in the North Sea, this Monday morning, the cold drop is already starting to bring about a decrease in temperatures on this first day of the week, allowing them to reach seasonal averages, with 10 to 12°C recorded. Gray weather will also be present over two thirds of the country, accompanied by rare showers in the north-east.
Drop in temperatures
With this cold drop, we should expect unsettled weather in the coming days, with very rainy storms in the middle of the week. From Tuesday, temperatures will fall below seasonal values. On Wednesday afternoon, it will be 8°C on average in the northern half of France, and 11°C in the south. Morning frosts will be possible in the second half of the week, particularly in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
Some snowfall is expected to fall from 800 to 900 meters above sea level between Tuesday and Thursday, while it is currently almost absent below 2,700 meters. A usual phenomenon for the season, but which occurs after a sequence of mildness and drought abnormal for this time of year.
The cold drop will reach Spain from Wednesday, raising fears of further precipitation, while the Valencia region and Catalonia were hit by floods which left more than 200 dead. In France, however, it is expected from next weekend.
