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WEATHER

UPDATE: More snow and ice weather warnings issued across France

People living in 11 French départements have been told to be "very vigilant" due to snowy and icy weather conditions forecast for Thursday night and Friday.

Published: 28 March 2022 18:08 CEST
Updated: 31 March 2022 16:46 CEST
11 French départements have been warned to be
11 French départements have been warned to be "very vigilant" about snow and ice, amid a dramatic drop in temperatures. (Photo by JEFF PACHOUD / AFP)

A severe drop in temperatures across the country has led Météo France, the public meteorological service, to issue 11 orange alerts over snow and ice. 

The following départements can expect significant snowfall late Thursday and into Friday: Loire, Haute Loire, Puy-de-Dôme, Creuse, Orne, Calvados, Eure, Seine-Maritime, Somme, Pas-de-Calais and Nord. 

Some areas may receive as much as 10 cm of snowfall overnight.

11 French départements, in the north and centre of the country, have been given 'orange alerts' for bad weather.

11 French départements, in the north and centre of the country, have been given ‘orange alerts’ for snow and ice. (Source: Météo France)

Temperatures across the country had dropped by Thursday morning but Friday appears to be the day when snowfall will be widest, with temperatures hovering just above freezing in much of the country that night. 

Meteorologist Gilles Matricon told Le Parisien that the abrupt change to the weather, which comes after weeks of pleasant temperatures and sunshine across much of France, is due to the collapse of an anticyclone that has hovered over northern Europe for about a month now. 

“Cold air will descend from Scandinavia to France plunging us into winter,” he warned predicting a decline in temperatures of 10 C from Monday to Thursday. 

The last of the snowflakes are predicted to fall on April 4th. The authorities are yet to issue a weather warning. 

Frosty mornings have the potential to cause damage to a number of French agricultural sectors. Cold temperatures in April 2021 are estimated to have cost French vineyards upwards of €2 billion in damage, with about a third of all production lost. 

The situation should not be as bad this time around, according to Matthieu Regimbeau, an agronomical engineer cited in Le Parisien. 

“The frost will be less present and the temperatures will not drop too much at night,” he explained. 

Colder temperatures are undoubtedly good news however, for ski resorts, who may be able to prolong their season thanks to a delayed melting of snow. 

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HEALTH

Storms prompt asthma and pollen warnings in France

Asthmatics and anyone with pollen allergies have been warned to be on the alert in the coming days, as a wave of thunderstorms are forecast to hit large areas in south, central and eastern France creating a 'pollen storm'.

Published: 7 June 2024 11:35 CEST
Storms prompt asthma and pollen warnings in France

Storms began to spread across parts of France on Thursday and are set to be a key feature on the forecasts through to Sunday, with experts warning that they could trigger ‘storm-induced’ asthma attacks.

The combination of electrical storms and high pollen concentrations in the southern half of the country is set to increase the risk of respiratory problems from Friday, France’s Réseau National de Surveillance Aérobiologique (RNSA) warned. 

This phenomenon causes pollen grains to break up into fine particles, which spread rapidly and penetrate more deeply into the respiratory system. People allergic to pollen and asthma sufferers are among those most at risk.

On Friday, some 23 départements were under yellow alert for thunderstorms, with a southern belt stretching from the Landes, in the south-west to the Alps in the south-east. This figure is set to fall to 11 on Saturday, mainly in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and southern Burgundy-Franche-Comté.

Yellow alerts for thunderstorms in southern France increase the risk of pollen allergies. Alerts in place on Friday, June 7. Map: MeteoFrance

“These weather conditions, combined with the high concentrations of grass pollen currently observed and forecast for this week … considerably increase the risk of storm-induced asthma,” the RNSA said in a press release. 

Pollen counts are extremely high over a large band of France, from the Atlantic coast to Alsace and the entire south-western quarter, it said.

During the first half-hour of a thunderstorm, patients suffering from pollen allergies may inhale a high concentration of the allergenic material that is dispersed into the atmosphere, which in turn can induce asthmatic reactions, often severe

Experts don’t fully understand why these events trigger breathing problems. But air flow within a thunderstorm system is thought to be important. 

Thunderstorms form when warm wetter air on the earth’s surface is beneath much cooler air higher in the atmosphere. The warm air rises quickly (known as up-draft) which causes the cool air to flow down towards the ground (known as down-draft). As the warm air rises, it cools and the moisture condenses into clouds and water molecules.

As a result pollen concentration “increases rapidly close to the ground with the strong downward winds that carry grass pollen from the upper air layers to the air layers close to the ground,” the RNSA said. 

Pollen then becomes waterlogged and bursts open under the combined effect of high air humidity, gusts of wind and variations in the electric field in the atmosphere. “The result is fine allergenic particles that can penetrate even deeper into the lungs”.

Thunderstorm asthma manifests itself as breathing difficulties comparable to an asthma attack, and occurs mainly – but not exclusively – in people allergic to grass pollen and asthmatics in general, but also in children and young adults. 

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