Winter arrives in France with snow and lows of -4C forecast next week

The weather will be more like that usually seen in late December and early January, say forecasters, but will fall short of an official ‘cold snap’

A winter countryside scene with snow and frost
Winter is set to arrive in France next week as temperatures will drop by an average of 6C and could even hit -4C in some areas
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Temperatures are set to drop by 3- 6C on average across France next week, with “a descent of polar air” and snow forecast to arrive from Sunday, November 21, say forecasters.

Cold wind and rain will affect the north especially as a winter anticyclone arrives over France after hitting Ireland and the UK.

Weather forecasters predict that temperatures will drop by 3-6C on average nationwide, going from a high of 17C in the south and west and 7C in the west on Saturday, to lows of 2-3C in the centre and east, 5C in the north, and 10C in the southeast.

Temperatures could even drop as low as -4C in some areas, and hover between 0-4C as the cold weather continues.

Several areas are expected to have snow including Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Lille before the end of the month.

Frédéric Nathan told FranceInfo that the weather will be caused by “polar air, because it’s coming from Greenland”, and said that the conditions were more like the “seasonal averages for the end of December or the start of January” than November.

However, forecasters say that the cold will not be severe enough to be defined as an official cold snap.

To qualify for that, the cold weather must last for at least three consecutive days and the average national temperature must drop under -2C for at least one day, Météo France has explained.

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