From the heights of the former mining basin of Pas-de-Calais to Normandy, via the Saint-Etienne region, snow, in moderate proportions, was invited on Friday in around twenty departments, an unusual episode in the spring. .
Since Friday morning, Météo-France has extended its orange snow alert to 22 departments, eleven more than the day before.
The alert, which runs until at least Saturday morning, concerns the departments of Nord, Pas-de-Calais and Somme, Calvados, Seine-Maritime, Eure and Orne, Creuse, Puy-de-Dôme, Haute-Loire, Loire, Ain, Isère, Allier, Cantal, Aveyron, Haute-Vienne, Corrèze, Ariège, Haute-Garonne , Hautes-Pyrénées and Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
Road traffic was thus disrupted Friday morning in the Loire by snowfall which reached 15 to 20 centimeters on the heights, in the Pilat massif and the Forez mountains, according to the services of the departmental council.
In Saint-Etienne, 5 to 10 centimeters of snow fell in places and school transport was suspended in the metropolis and in Pilat.
In Haute-Loire, a neighboring department, heavy goods vehicles are also blocked across the RN-88 which connects St-Etienne to Puy-en-Velay, which has led the prefectures of the two departments to issue an order prohibiting their circulation between the two cities.
“Despite the temporary cessation of snowfall, traffic on the secondary network remains complicated at altitude”, indicated Yves Dadole, director of roads for the Loire departmental council, specifying that in the southern part of the Forez mountains, the Col du Béal was closed to traffic. Snow also fell Friday morning on the reliefs of the Lyon region.
– Big flakes in Lille –
The snowy episode also caused some disruption on the roads in Hauts-de-France, in particular around Saint-Omer. The prefecture has invited road users not to take the RN42, between Lumbres and Boulogne-sur-mer, in both directions, where vehicles are stationary. In the North, traffic was tricky around 9 a.m., among other places, between Quaëdypre and Biernes, south of Dunkirk.
The hill of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette (Pas-de-Calais), which dominates the former mining basin, woke up under a thin white coat. But the snow held neither on the surrounding roads nor on the nearby plain. Large cottony flakes also fell on the center of Lille, without holding on to the roads and sidewalks. Measures to suspend school transport have also been taken in the region.
In Seine-Maritime, the emergency services for their part reported “three or four minor traffic accidents without victims in the department. Traffic is a bit difficult on the A29”. A truck across the road disrupted traffic on the A151.
Some transport has been canceled, in particular in the community of communes Bray-Eawy, north of Rouen, and in Eure.
The snowy episode is described by Météo-France as “unusual for the start of spring, sufficiently notable to disrupt traffic and certain economic activities”.
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