Get ready for very cold weather in France this weekend! Temperatures are expected to drop drastically, leading to frost in several regions.
The cold is settling in Europe with temperatures dropping as low as -40°C in Sweden. However, the United Kingdom and France have been relatively spared so far due to a wet western current. But this is about to change, as an anticyclone is forming over the British Isles, bringing cold air from Northern Europe and Russia. This phenomenon is called the “Moscow-Paris.”
In France, very low temperatures are expected: around -10°C. The mercury will begin to drop from this weekend and will intensify next week, particularly between Monday and Thursday. In many regions, nighttime temperatures could drop below -5°C. In more exposed areas, such as snowy valleys and Jura combes, temperatures could drop between -10°C and -15°C, possibly even -20°C in the coldest areas.
The most exposed regions to the Moscow-Paris cold wave
In eastern France, the mercury will drastically drop, bringing an intense cold wave. The weather will be freezing for several days from Alsace to Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Even in Strasbourg, temperatures will drop to -10 to -15°C at night in some areas, such as the combes and valleys. And beware, there will be no thaw in Strasbourg for several days!
Regions from Hauts-de-France to Limousin will also experience this exceptional cold spell, but less intensely. Temperatures will be very low: about 5 degrees lower than usual, with nights between -5 and 0°C and days not exceeding 1 to 5°C. With the exception of two or three days without thaw from Lille to Rennes via Rouen and Alençon, the regions from the English Channel to the Atlantic coast will also experience intense cold. One thing is certain, this cold will continue throughout the next week and will finally give way, around mid-January, to a more oceanic air.
