Pic of cold : “an intense episode, but not great” – Franceinfo

frozen Soil, freezing rain… The weekend of Saturday, January 7, temperatures are plummeting in the north of France. In total, twenty departments ranging from the North to the Eure-et-Loir and the Calvados to the Ardennes have been placed in vigilance orange for the ice and snow by Météo France. In the night from Friday to Saturday, the mercury may even fall below -15°C in the East.

But, if intense as it is, this peak of cold is in no way exceptional. This is due to franceinfo Philippe Métayer, a forecaster at Meteo France.

Franceinfo : The wave of cold weather that affected the north of France is it exceptionally long ?

Philippe Métayer : This is more of a peak than a wave, since the phenomenon must have lasted about two days before a warm spell arrives. A wave, conversely, lasts many weeks. From the point of view of the time, so it’s not at all exceptional.

for example, in the winter the more rigorous of the last century, in 1962-1963, the temperatures had been below normal season to the end of the month of November until the end of the month of march ! This had nothing to do with the peak expected this weekend.

I also remember the winter of 2005-2006. It was not necessarily very cold, but outside of periods of rise in temperature of a few days, it was there again, between November and march, consistently below the normal values.

And in terms of temperatures, this peak is non-standard ?

No. Even if, in the East, it may reach -15°C, this kind of temperatures is relatively common. In 2011, the inhabitants of the region, reims have been entitled at temperatures ranging from -10 to -15°C.

going back several decades back, one can find values far more important. In 1985, in Paris, the mercury dropped to -17°C ! It is not necessary to expect that cold records were beaten this weekend, because starting tomorrow, the time is radoucira by the north-west.

The episode which has started is short, intense, but not outstanding.

what can we expect in the next few days ?

As of Sunday, we will remain below normal, but temperatures will be less harsh. Next week, we will return to a more usual for the season.

But beware, the winter is only starting ! We can expect periods of cold quite marked in February or march, even if, in general, the coldest periods are grouped between 15 December and 15 February.

All of this will be conditioned by the phenomena come from the North pole or the Russian federation. At the present time, it waits up to -20°C in some central European countries. But fortunately this is not heading to France.

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