The weather on Saturday will be unstable in the west of the country in the afternoon, with severe thunderstorms in places in the southwest and persistent rain in the Cévennes, according to Météo France, which has declared eight departments under an orange storm.
The departments affected by the orange alert are Charente, Gironde, Dordogne, Lot, Landes, Lot-et-Garonne, Tarn-et-Garonne and Gers.
Gusts of wind and hail in the west
These storms will feature intense electrical activity that may produce gusty winds of 80 to 100 km/h, heavy rainfall and hail, the weather service said in its 6 a.m. bulletin.
The Pyrenees and southern Aquitaine will be sprinkled with rain in the morning, with the rain-snow line around 2000m.
They will also extend from Poitou-Charentes and Pays de la Loire to the Belgian border, sparing Brittany where the sun will equal clearings, punctuated by a few showers. At the end of the morning, these precipitations will take on an unstable character from the coast of Charente and intensify the intensity of the rains in the second part of the day.
Cloudy skies and wind in the east
Further east, the sky will be mostly cloudy, continuous rain will spread from the Montagne Noire to the Cévennes, showers will hit Corsica, the Massif Central, the border Alps, where it will snow from 1,600 m.
In the afternoon, the tip of Brittany will maintain calm weather under changeable skies. Instability will spread across the good western half of the country. From the coast of Aquitaine towards Poitou-Charentes, from Limousin to Centre-Val de Loire, storms can cause hail.
Further east, as in Corsica, the sky will be cloudy, continuous rain will continue in the Cévennes, the Pyrenees, the border Alps, where it will snow from 2000 m.
Temperatures that stay cool
The south-easterly wind will intensify during the hours, reaching 80 to 100 km/h in the region of Autan on the ridges of the Pyrenees, the heights of the Central Massif.
At daybreak, the thermometer inland will show between 6 and 8 degrees, at the sea between 8 and 12 degrees, the maximum will be around 12 to 14 degrees in Brittany and Normandy, 15 to 18 in the northern half of the country. country, 18 to 20 further south.