The weather will be stormy this Wednesday, forecasts Météo-France, which has placed seven departments in the South-East on orange vigilance for thunderstorms. The meteorological institute added in its last bulletin the Var to the six departments (Ardèche, Drôme, Gard, Hérault, Bouches-du-Rhône and Vaucluse) which were already placed in orange vigilance until 10 p.m.
A first salvo of stormy rains began at the end of the night on the Gard and the Ardèche. These rains will quickly shift towards Drôme, Vaucluse and Bouches-du-Rhône in the morning, while a temporary lull may settle in the back, from Hérault to Gard, specifies Météo-France. The accumulations expected with this first pass are of the order of 30 to 50 mm in one to two hours.
Hail, wind and heavy rain
A new stormy wave is expected from midday on the departments placed in orange vigilance, more particularly around the Rhône valley this time, which can locally give very heavy precipitation of the order of 70 to 100 mm in little of time.
Hail and fairly strong gusts can be observed locally, but it is the heavy precipitation aspect that will be predominant in the episode, underlines the weather forecasting organization. These storms could also give strong accumulations on the neighboring departments placed in yellow vigilance, in particular Isère, Rhône, and Ain, adds Météo-France.
The weather will also be disturbed in the north of the country. A lightly rainy front will stretch from the Channel to Belgium in the morning, mainly watering the North and Pas-de-Calais. In the afternoon, it will progress towards the south, sometimes taking on a stormy character, in particular over the north-eastern quarter of the country. North of the Loire the storms will be more isolated. The Southwest will benefit from milder, drier and fairly sunny weather. The weather will also be dry in Corsica, under a cloudy sky.