Ten consecutive days of gray in Val-de-Loire: will we see the sun again in the coming days?

A lasting anticyclonic blockage

For 10 days, a vast anticyclone has set in from northern France and the British Isles to central Europe, putting an end to the very long period of disturbed weather which affected France for weeks. The high pressures are causing very calm weather with little wind but a lot of humidity in the lower layers of the atmosphere, linked to all the rain that fell this fall. This humidity results in the presence of frequent fogs and low clouds which cannot be absorbed, because the wind is very weak and the sun is no longer powerful enough at this time of the year to dry out the humid air mass at ground contact.

Autumn anticyclone © The Weather Channel

The Pays de la Loire and Centre-Val de Loire have been the least sunny regions over the last 10 days. Over the period from October 27 to November 5, there were only 30 minutes of sunshine in Orléans and 1 hour 20 minutes in Nantes for a respective average of 25 and 30 hours.

10 days without sun in the Loire Valley © The Weather Channel

Will the sun return to the north in the coming days?

This Thursday, the situation will change little with low clouds still very stubborn. Slightly drier air from Belgium could return from the northeast during the afternoon with the return of some nice clearings in Champagne-Ardenne and northern Lorraine. Clearings should remain timid or non-existent from the northwest to the Paris Basin. It is Friday that the chances of seeing nice clearings developing in the northwest will be the greatest, linked to a slightly more sensitive northeast wind. This improvement will probably not be lasting with the return of numerous fogs and low clouds for the weekend, the anticyclone strengthening again over the north of France.