Overview
- More than 70 departments were under yellow snow and ice alerts on Friday, with many also flagged for severe cold as an early winter air mass settled over the country.
- Light snow reached parts of the plains and Île-de-France Friday morning, while massifs saw notable accumulations, including about 20 cm at 1,000 m in Haut-Rhin and larger totals in the Pyrenees.
- Saturday is forecast to be the coldest day of the episode, with lows near −1°C in Paris and down to about −6°C in Nancy, before a gradual thaw early next week.
- A disturbance advancing from the west could bring a band of snow followed by freezing rain from Saturday evening into Sunday, and forecasters say alerts may be escalated to orange.
- Authorities activated the national winter road plan, deploying 7,500 staff and extensive salting and ploughing, while Ariège imposed an HGV ban on the RN20; SNCF does not expect network-wide disruption.