Snow and ice update: north east France remains on alert

Some eight departments in Grand Est are under orange alerts for snow and black ice today (December 15), while much of the rest of the north and centre of the country are on a yellow warning.

The departments still under an orange alert are: Meuse, Haute-Marne, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Moselle, Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin, Territoire de Belfort and Vosges.

The orange warning is expected to last at least until 12:00.

Yesterday (December 14), the orange alert concerned much of northern France, from Brittany to Grand Est, but now these departments have been downgraded to yellow.

The areas under orange alerts could be affected by “some light snow showers or refreezing” until this evening, national forecaster Météo France has said. In Meurthe-et-Moselle, “temperatures will be negative at the end of the night,” which could result in icy conditions on roads.

Nord and Pas-de-Calais could also be affected by black ice.

School bus services are, like yesterday, impacted by the weather conditions, being completely suspended in Eure-et-Loir, Eure and Aube, for example.

In Brittany, no school buses are circulating in Morbihan today, or Finistère this morning, although they have begun running again in Côtes-d’Armor and Ille-et-Vilaine.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled at Paris airports yesterday as a result of the snow, but the Direction générale de l’aviation civile (DGAC) has stated that traffic should return to normal today.

500 people stuck at Strasbourg Airport

Air traffic was also impacted in Alsace yesterday, and Strasbourg-Entzheim stated: “The intensity of the icy rain today, in combination with the snow, has exhausted our plane de-icing resources, which could not be restocked because of the snowy conditions.”

Five flights heading for Madrid, Amsterdam, Marseille, Nantes and Bordeaux had to be cancelled, and 500 passengers were left stuck in Strasbourg. Around 22:00, most were found accommodation for the night.

However, around 30 people were still in the airport at that time, with nowhere to go, because Strasbourg’s Christmas markets meant that many hotels were booked up.

Civil protection services had to be enlisted to help find these people somewhere to stay.

Strasbourg Airport expects that services will run as normal today.

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