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Up to 30 departments in the north and east of France were placed on orange vigilance on Saturday January 4 (Illustrative photo).
WEATHER – Short-lived meteorological whim. While up to 30 departments in France had been placed on orange snow and ice alert on Saturday, Météo-France finally lifted vigilance this Sunday, January 5 across the entire country.
Before ending, the disturbance which crossed the north and east of France caused some damage and even caused the death of a man on the A6 due to freezing rain which makes driving particularly difficult.
Météo-France had predicted snowfall “quite brief”but can be more persistent in the border departments of the Grand-Est, reaching up to five centimeters on the ground. In its 6 a.m. bulletin, Météo-France indicated that a layer of snow of 1 to 2 cm was still present from northern Lorraine to Bas-Rhin.
But this episode of snow and freezing rain finally ended quickly, thanks to a mass of mild air coming “ sweep the entire country, in a southwest/northeast direction. Relatively good news for motorists, who have often been the first to suffer the consequences of this often dangerous weather.
Danger on the roads
Because if the freezing rains led to the cutting of several motorways in Burgundy on Saturday evening, they also seem to be the cause of a pileup of three vehicles on the A6, in the Paris-Lyon direction, near Mercueil (Côte Gold).
According to initial information, the driver of one of the vehicles, a young man of 20, died, while four other people were slightly injured, including a six-year-old child, firefighters said.
Météo-France had placed particular vigilance on this unique winter episode which generally causes large “ traffic difficulties “. In Côte d’Or, sixteen road accidents had been recorded at the start of the evening this Saturday. With no less than 60 victims.
BFMTV also mentions disruptions on the A31, A5, A3 or A38 motorways for this last weekend of the Christmas holidays. Conditions which have also forced the Côte d’Or prefecture to close the A38 to traffic over a portion of around fifteen kilometers. Furthermore, speeds have often been limited on expressways, such as in Île-de-France, where traffic has been reduced by 20 km/h as part of level 2 of the Snow and Ice plan in the region.
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