Several prefectures, including that of Ile-de-France, have implemented their plan ” Extreme cold “, Sunday January 7, to cope with the drop in temperatures which will increase until Tuesday.
Emmanuel Macron also asked the government “to speed up responses” to the floods of Pas-de-Calais for “helping affected populations, the most precarious and the homeless”.
After one “particularly mild period for the season”the cold goes “settling in for a good part of next week”according to Meteo France. Temperatures are expected to gradually drop by more than 10 degrees nationwide over a few days and frosts “generalized” are expected from Monday.
Already on Sunday, the temperatures felt could drop to -10°C in the morning on the heights, in Saint-Flour, a town in Cantal located at an altitude of 900 meters, for example. In the evening, the mercury dropped to zero in Sarrebourg, Epinal and Amiens, and even below in Valenciennes, Laon and Arras.
Tuesday should be the coldest day, with negative temperatures in the morning across almost the entire country: -5°C in Belfort, -3 in Lille, -2 in Paris, Bordeaux and Rennes, 0 in Lyon and Toulouse , but 9 in Marseille.
On that day, the national thermal indicator (average temperature recorded in 30 meteorological stations in the territory) could fall below 0°C, which has not happened since February 2018.
From Sunday, 60 departments were placed on yellow alert (second level out of four) for snow and ice. Only the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts are spared.
In the village of Hauteluce (Savoie), four people were injured when a coach carrying 52 passengers “slipped on the snow and lay on the side of the road”firefighters announced to Agence-France-Presse (AFP).
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In addition, eleven departments of the mountain ranges are on yellow avalanche alert. Significant snowfall occurred in the Pyrenees, where traffic is difficult above 500 meters altitude.
From Monday, 40 departments will be placed on extreme cold yellow vigilance.
Cold waves “rarer, less long and less intense”
In addition to the Île-de-France prefecture, which opens 100 places from Sunday evening “sheltered” of the most vulnerable people and 274 for the coming week, those of Côtes-d’Armor, Maine-et-Loire and the region have notably activated their plan ” Extreme cold “.
Others, such as in Hauts-de-Seine, Bas-Rhin or Loire-Atlantique, have announced the establishment of prevention and vigilance systems. These decisions also make it possible to offer additional accommodation places to homeless people, in particular by requisitioning gymnasiums.
The departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais are still on orange flood alert and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne is expected in the region on Tuesday, where the drop in temperatures is worrying residents affected by the floods.
“Everyone is afraid of this cold snap. There are people who no longer have heating in their homes, sometimes since November”testifies to AFP, Jackie Aube who feeds a Facebook page on news from the Saint-Omer region. “The houses are damp. With negative temperatures, we can have consequences on the structure” he is alarmed. “We’re looking forward to spring”.
Météo France specifies that“with climate change, cold waves are still possible even as the climate warms,” mbut they are “rarer, less long and less intense” over the last 35 years and the episode of the next few days does not meet the criteria for a ” cold wave “ strictly speaking.
THE “four longest and most severe cold spells” were observed more ago in February 1956, January 1963, January 1985 and January 1987, specifies the organization.