The Yonne prefecture announces, this Wednesday, November 20, 2024, a series of measures in anticipation of the snowy episode announced by Meteo France from Thursday, November 21. The prefectural decree will take effect from 11 a.m. and aims in particular to reduce by 20 km/h the maximum speed usually authorized on the entire Icaunais road network.
The Yonne department is among the 32 departments placed by Météo France on orange alert from this Thursday, November 21 for snow and ice. The consequence of the passage of the Caetano depression which will cross France from west to east, and generate snowfall to the north of its trajectory, on an axis going from the north of Brittany to the Grand-Est.
In Yonne, the first snowfalls are expected “between the end of the night of this Wednesday, November 20 and Thursday evening” and could make traffic conditions “difficult”, according to Météo-France, which led to the prefect of Yonne to take, by decree, a series of measures aimed at securing travel on the Icaunais road network.
Transports. The Yonne prefecture indicates that school transport is maintained for the day of Thursday, November 21.
Speed reduction of 20 km/h
The decree comes into force this Thursday, November 21, at 11 a.m. and concerns “the reduction by 20 km/h of the maximum speed authorized for motor vehicles on the entire road network of Yonne outside the urban area”. It also limits the maximum authorized speed “to 70 km/h for vehicles or combinations of vehicles weighing more than 7.5 tonnes used for the transport of goods or people”.
Overtaking prohibited on snowy roads
The prefectural decree finally prohibits “all categories of motor vehicles from carrying out overtaking or changing lane maneuvers when, on the roadway, at least one lane of traffic is covered with snow or ice on all or part of it. of its surface”.
“The snow, wet type, will hold on the ground all the way to the plain. By Thursday evening, we expect a layer of around 2 to 5 cm on the plains, locally 10 cm on the plateaus and reliefs,” explains Météo France.
Hat and gloves Thursday, t-shirt Sunday: the yo-yo of temperatures in Yonne
The departments concerned by snow and ice vigilance are: Aube, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Hautes-Alpes, Calvados, Cher, Côte-d'Or, Côtes-d'Armor, Doubs, Eure, Eure-et-Loir , Ille-et-Vilaine, Loir-et-Cher, Loiret, Manche, Haute-Marne, Mayenne, Nièvre, Orne, Haut-Rhin, Haute-Saône, Sarthe, Paris, Seine-et-Marne, Yvelines, Vosges, Yonne, Territoire de Belfort, Essonne, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, Val de-Marne, Val-d'Oise.
Snow and ice: how traffic is ensured on the departmental roads of Yonne
The passage of this depression occurs as part of an “early winter episode” with the arrival on Wednesday of a “polar air mass” causing temperatures to drop. The latter should “clamp between 5 and 10°C at the best of the day, i.e. values comparable to the January averages”, indicates Météo-France on its website.
The cold should persist on Friday before a “powerful mild spell” expected during the day on Saturday.
Franck Morales, with AFP
