Several prefectures, including that of Ile-de-France, have implemented their plan “Extremely cold”, Sunday, January 7, to cope with the drop in temperature, which will increase until Tuesday.

Emmanuel Macron also asked the government “to speed up answers” about the floods in the Pas-de-Calais For “Help for the affected population, the most needy and the homeless”.

After one “Particularly mild season”the cold goes “I’m going to commit to a good portion of next week.”accordingly Meteo France. Temperatures are expected to gradually drop by more than 10 degrees across the country over the course of a few days and frost will occur “generalized” are expected from Monday.

As early as Sunday, temperatures at high altitudes, for example in Saint-Flour, a town in the Cantal at an altitude of 900 meters, could drop to as low as -10°C in the morning. In the evening the mercury fell to zero in Sarrebourg, Épinal and Amiens, and even lower in Valenciennes, Laon and Arras.

Tuesday should be the coldest, with negative temperatures in the morning across the country: -5°C in Belfort, -3 in Lille, -2 in Paris, Bordeaux and Rennes, 0 in Lyon and Toulouse, but 9 in Marseille.

On this day, the national temperature indicator (the average temperature measured at 30 weather stations in the area) could fall below 0 ° C, which has not been the case since February 2018.

As of Sunday, 60 departments were placed on yellow alert (second of four) due to snow and ice. Only the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts are spared.

In the village of Hauteluce (Savoy), four people were injured when a bus carrying 52 passengers hit “Slipped in the snow and left on the side of the road”firefighters announced to Agence-France-Presse (AFP).

There are also yellow avalanche warnings in eleven mountain regions. There was heavy snowfall in the Pyrenees, where traffic is difficult above 500 meters altitude.

Starting Monday, 40 departments will be placed under extreme cold yellow vigilance.

Cold waves “less frequent, less long and less intense”

Next to the prefecture of Île-de-France, which opens 100 places from Sunday evening “protected” Of the people most at risk and 274 for the coming week, those from Côtes-d’Armor, Maine-et-Loire and the region in particular have activated their plan “Extremely cold”.

Others, such as those 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 provide additional housing for the homeless, in particular through the confiscation of gymnasiums.

The Nord and Pas-de-Calais departments are still under an orange flood warning and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne is expected in the region on Tuesday, where falling temperatures are worrying residents affected by the floods.

“Everyone is afraid of this cold snap. There are people who no longer have heating in their houses, sometimes since November.”says to AFP, Jackie Aube, who maintains a Facebook page with news from the Saint-Omer region. “The houses are damp. At negative temperatures we can have an impact on the structure.” he is alarmed. “We are looking forward to spring”.

Météo France states this“With climate change, cold waves are still possible even with global warming,” mbut they are “less frequent, less long and less intense” in the last 35 years and the episode in the next few days does not meet the criteria for a “Cold Wave” strictly speaking.

THE “four longest and most severe cold waves” Further observations took place in February 1956, January 1963, January 1985 and January 1987, the organization states.