The extreme cold plan has been activated in many departments to protect vulnerable populations, while Météo France warns of the health risks linked to extreme temperatures.
Due to abnormally lower temperatures to seasonal norms in this beginning of Januarythe prefects of 34 departments of France decided to set up the extreme cold plan with a yellow vigilanceas indicated by Weather France.
The Auvergne Rhône-Alpes Regional Health Agency (ARS) specifies that this plan is activated by the prefects of each region when this period “constitutes a danger for precarious, homeless or isolated populations, due to their living or working conditions, and potentially for the entire population.” This makes it possible to “mobilize services and implement appropriate information and communication measures, particularly for populations most at risk.”
Screenshot – Météo France
For the first time, 34 departments are concerned by this measure, including Loire-Atlantique, Lozère, Jura and even Marne. Some of these departments are also affected by crude vigilance.
On his site, Weather France specifies that “the episode lasts at least two days” and that “the extreme cold, like the heatwave, constitutes a danger for everyone's health.” Since 2004, the risk of extreme cold has been included in Météo France's forecasts and, since 2002, Météo France has participated in “the Severe Cold Plan intended to help homeless people.”
What are the dangers of a very cold episode?
Weather France warns of the risks that episodes like this can cause. The cold can reduce “the body’s resistance capabilities”. Risks also vary depending on age, region and pathologies. The most serious consequences are: “hypothermia or frostbite which must be reported to emergency services as soon as possible.”
Vigilance should be lifted at midnight, but that does not mean that the cold will not still remain very present in these regions.
France
