The first snowflakes of the year fell on the west of the country early this morning, as storm Caetano plunged a large part of France prematurely into the winter season.
France is starting to turn white. The snow brought by storm Caetano began to fall this Thursday, November 21 in the morning on Brittany and Normandy as winter descends on France, where 58 departments are placed on orange alert for snow, ice and violent winds .
The first snowflakes fell Thursday morning in Ille-et-Vilaine, Côtes-d'Armor, Mayenne, Orne, Manche and Calvados, according to numerous publications on social networks.
Disruptions on the roads
Webcams from the North-West Interdepartmental Roads Directorate (DIRNO) also show significant snowfall on the main roads in Normandy, particularly on the A84 between Rennes and Caen.
In several departments, the circulation of trucks over 7.5 tonnes is restricted, with a speed reduced by 20 km/h and cannot exceed. This applies from 6 a.m. in Calvados, Côtes-d'Armor, Ille-et-Vilaine, Manche, Morbihan, Orne and Sarthe, and from 11 a.m. in Cher, 'Eure, Eure-et-Loir, Loir-et-Cher and Loiret.
Île-de-France also under the snow
Storm Caetano “will cross France from west to east and cause an early winter episode that is sufficiently notable to make traffic conditions difficult in the regions concerned”, Météo-France had warned.
After the west of France, it was Île-de-France which found itself under the snow in the middle of the morning. Météo-France says it expects “1 to 5 cm of snow, locally 5 to 10 cm in the south”.
In the Paris region also, the speed limit will be lowered by 20 km/h and trucks weighing more than 7.5 tonnes will not be able to overtake on major roads from 11 a.m.
Further south, the wind will blow strongly with “gusts generally between 100 and 120 km/h on the coast of the departments placed on orange vigilance”, or even “130 to 140 km/h possible in the south of Brittany and occasionally on exposed islands and capes.
Inland, gusts should be around 100 km/h and up to “110 to 130 km/h on the Massif Central and more than 150 km/h on the highest points of the Alps”.
Strong winds could also cause avalanches in the Alps. “Extreme vigilance is required for the practice of all mountain activities and mainly ski or snowshoe hikes” and Haute-Savoie “has an avalanche risk of 4 out of 5 on the Mont-Blanc massif”, a indicated the prefecture.
Related News :