Traffic and weather: What is forecast for France’s long weekend?

Heavy traffic is predicted throughout France this weekend as people take advantage of the long weekend to begin their summer holidays – or take a three-day break.

Traffic site Bison Futé is forecasting packed roads on Thursday (July 13), Saturday (July 15 and Sunday (July 16) particularly around Paris.

Saturday sees the entire country given a ‘red’ warning (the second-highest level) for traffic, thanks to the large number of people departing for holidays.

On Sunday, roads both entering and exiting major cities are expected to face traffic as well.

In terms of the weather, the worst of this week’s storms is over, although Météo France is forecasting some storms in the east on Saturday.

Friday – France’s national holiday – should see clear skies and temperatures hovering in the high 20Cs, except in some coastal areas of Brittany and Normandy.

Only Alpes-Maritimes, in the far south-east of the country, has a tier-three weather warning in place so far, for an ongoing heatwave.

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Heavy congestion expected

Once again, Bison Futé has put in place a warning for heavy traffic this weekend, due to the volume of people travelling for their holidays.

“This second weekend of the school holidays is seeing an increase in the number of people going on holiday, with longer distances travelled. The 14th of July… also provides an opportunity for a long weekend away,” said the site.

“Heavy congestion is expected” throughout the country, and in particular will be “heavy on most of the main routes to the south and the coastal regions,”

Unlike previous weekends, however, the warnings have begun earlier – starting from Thursday (July 13).

On Thursday, most of the country is facing a tier-two warning for traffic on roads departing cities, although Paris and the surrounding departments are facing red warnings, the second-highest possible.

Traffic problems across the country will persist “from late morning onwards” on Thursday, in all directions, but particularly around Paris’ ring road, and on the A6 and A10 motorways.

Friday will see less traffic – only light warnings are in place in Brittany, Normandy, and near the Belgian border – but by Saturday the entire country will be on red alert for heavy traffic.

Bison Futé warns there will be “traffic problems on all the country's major routes,” as holidaymakers continue to leave for the summer break.

The entire country has been given a red warning, with ‘heavy’ traffic expected from mid-morning until late afternoon.

Alongside the motorways around Paris, the A13 in Normandy, the A7 between Lyon and Orange, and the roads leading to the Mont Blanc tunnel are expected to see jams.

Sunday sees warnings in place both for departures from larger cities – from those setting off to start holidays – as well as arrivals, with people coming back from shorter weekend breaks.

In particular, the Paris region is facing red alerts for heavy traffic on Sunday.

You can see the reports for the long weekend on the official Bison Futé traffic website here.

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A mixed bag of weather

The long weekend will see some drastic fluctuations, which could throw some planned weekend breaks into jeopardy.

The weather has seemingly got the memo for Friday, with mostly sunny skies – except for in Brittany – although those in the south-east should be aware of ‘very high’ temperature warnings from weather group La Chaîne météo.

Saturday will see some contrasting weather, however.

Some of the western parts of the country will see rain, whilst the east is predicted to face storms. The east will be ‘very hot’ throughout the day, with highs of 35C near the Swiss border.

Sunday should see a return to blue skies, although the south-east is expected to face high temperatures throughout the entire weekend.

Currently, only one tier-three warning from Météo France is in place, for heatwave conditions in Alpes-Maritimes.

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