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WEATHER

Storm warnings spread across western France

France's national weather agency has issued further weather warnings as thunderstorms approach the country from the west.

Published: 12 August 2015 10:46 CEST
Updated: 12 August 2015 16:30 CEST
Storm warnings spread across western France
Thunder, lightning, and hail are forecast to hit north-western France on Wednesday night. Photo: AFP
France's weather agency Météo France issued an “orange warning” for a further 12 départements in France in its 4pm bulletin on Wednesday. These take the total number of départements on alert to 19.
 
The reason? Thunder and hail storms are approaching from the west. 
 
The agency warned that there would be lightning, strong winds, and enough rain to cause potential flash flooding in people's cellars. It warned residents to avoid taking shelter under trees, and to avoid using the telephone or electrical appliances. 
 

(Photo: AFP)
 
An Orange warning is the second highest warning level and asks the public to be “very vigilant”.
 
The areas since the morning are Finistère, Côtes-d'Armor, Ille-et-Vilaine, Manche, Calvados, Orne, and Mayenne – all in the north and north west of France. Météo France added Seine-Maritime, Eure, and Sarthe to this list in the afternoon.
 
It also added Charente, Charente-Maritime, Dordogne, Gironde, Landes, Lot-et-Garonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Gers, and Hautes-Pyrénées – all in the south west of France. See map below.
 

The storm will hit in the late afternoon and early evening, while the majority of the rest of France will be enjoying a late warm and sunny night (see map below).

By late evening, however, the hail storms are forecast to hit, marked by the letter G in the map below. These storms will remain throughout most of the night and into the early morning, gradually spreading south along France's Atlantic coast. 

And it's bad news for the rest of the country on Thursday, as the storms will push towards the east throughout the day. The map below shows France in the early evening on Thursday. 


(All photos and maps: Météo France)

The weather forecast is also bad news for stargazers, with Wednesday night said to be the best opportunity to see this year's Perseid meteor shower (if only the weather remains clear).

If you're in a part of France without clouds, here are some tips to catch what's been dubbed as one of the best celestial events in years.

 

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WEATHER

Norway to get a taste of summer with 20C days this week

Summer is finally here! Or least it is if you live in southern Norway, where a warm front coming up from Europe will bring t-shirt temperatures of 20C by Thursday, according to forecasts.

Published: 30 April 2024 08:42 CEST
Norway to get a taste of summer with 20C days this week

Warm air from southern Europe will combine with a high pressure zone which will bring clear skies and sunshine, with summery weather coming towards the end of the week, Norway’s national weather forecaster Yr has reported. 

“Thursday and Friday especially will be nice,” Ingrid Villa, a meteorologist at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, told the public broadcaster NRK. “Then we will probably get temperatures of over 20 degrees Celsius in some places.” 

Patches of 20C warmth are expected both in western Norway around Bergen and in Western Norway around Oslo, with the area around Tromsø expected to have slightly cooler weather, although Villa said that “it will absolutely be something like summer there too”. 

The warm sunny weather is, however, expected to pass northern Norway by, with grey overcast skies expected for much of this week. 

But if you think summer has come to Norway to stay, you risk disappointment as much cooler temperatures are expected next week.  

“There’s nothing unusual in getting an early taste of summer in April and the start of May, and then we can quickly go back to cooler more spring-like weather,” Villa said. 

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