The cold arriving in France will not spare any region over the coming days. Tuesday is expected to be the coldest day of the week.
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Here is winter, the real one. After several weeks of abnormally mild weather, the mercury will drop suddenly in France. The cold, which began to gradually settle in France on Friday January 5, will increase from Monday, until reaching a peak on Tuesday, before decreasing in intensity the following days. Some regions will be more affected than others. It is in the East that the thermometer will fall the furthest, with -15°C forecast locally. Here’s what awaits you for the coming week.
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Monday: frosts across the entire northern half
For the first time this winter, temperatures are below seasonal norms. “Monday morning, frosts will be widespread and sometimes severe in the northern half of the country. described for franceinfo Marion Pirat, forecaster at Météo-France. It will be -4°C in Amiens and Lille, -3°C in Paris, Chaumont or Belfort, -2°C in Metz or Rouen… “There might not even be a thaw in the afternoon in the north and east of the country,” warns the meteorologist. In the northern half, a strong east to northeast wind at 40 km/h will further reinforce the feeling of cold. During this time, “the southern half will always be positive”.
Tuesday: negative temperatures on almost all of France
Break out the hats and gloves. Tuesday will be the coldest day. Almost all of mainland France will be negative: -5°C in Strasbourg, Clermont-Ferrand, Agen or Lille; –4°C in Bordeaux; –3°C in Dijon, La Rochelle, Montpellier or Toulouse; –2°C in Lyon or Brest; –1°C in Perpignan… “To give an idea, iIt will be as cold in Nancy as in Montauban, with -5 or -6°C.”, compares Marion Pirat. In Paris, the mercury will not rise above -2°C. And this could last for the whole week.
Locally, Météo-France forecasts temperatures falling “up to -10, even -15” in certain cold holes (particularly valley bottoms). Tuesday, “we will be 5 to 8°C below seasonal norms nationally”underlines the forecaster.
The national thermal indicator (which corresponds to the average temperature over the entire day in 30 reference cities) will drop below 0 to reach -0.8°C. Unheard of for six years and February 2018. At the time, the sequence had been “more intense than what awaits us”tempers Marion Pirat.
Wednesday and Thursday: temperatures which will remain “freezing”
Wednesday and Thursday, temperatures in the northern half of mainland France will remain “icy”, “very low”. “At best, we will gain a small degree”, predicts Marion Pirat. Wednesday morning, it will be -3°C in Amiens, Strasbourg, Lille or Alençon, -2°C in Auxerre, Reims, Rennes, Brest, Nantes and even Vichy. The capital will not be spared, with still a negative temperature (-1°C).
On the other hand, the temperature will “warm up a little in the southern half thanks to the clouds.” On Wednesday afternoon, the mercury will rise to 10°C in Perpignan, 11°C in Marseille and even 12°C in Nice. “We could also temporarily have a little snow which will appear in the plains around the Rhône valley. But it will rather be quite dry cold,” continues Patrick Galois, also a forecaster at Météo-France.
This episode, which will end at the end of the week with the rise in temperatures, cannot be described as a “cold wave”. The intense cold should last at least three days, and the thermal indicator should drop at least one day below the threshold of -2°C nationally, insists Météo-France.