Snow and ice: Twenty-six departments were placed on the orange warning level by Météo-France on Monday.

The country has been gripped by a persistent cold wave for over a week. In a bulletin published at 10:00 AM on Monday, January 5, 2026, Météo-France placed 26 departments on  snow and ice alert for that day  .  These are Calvados (14), Côtes-d’Armor (22), Eure (27), Finistère (29), Ille-et-Vilaine (35), Manche (50), Seine-Maritime (76), Charente-Maritime (17), Deux-Sèvres (79), Vendée (85), Maine-et-Loire (49), Loire-Atlantique (44), Morbihan (56), Mayenne (53), Sarthe (72), Eure-et-Loir (28), Orne (61), Oise (60), and the entire Paris region.  « Due to the cold,  the snow will remain on the ground.  […]  On Monday morning, it will continue to snow in the coastal departments of the English Channel, mainly between Brittany and Normandy, »  the weather experts explain.

A band of snowfall will spread southwards  towards the Pays de la Loire and the Paris Basin  during the afternoon and early evening  . It will reach the Poitou-Charentes region in the evening ,  according to the weather forecast. Generally, 1 to locally 5 cm of snow is expected.  However, heavier snowfall is forecast for northern  Brittany  and parts of Normandy, which are under an orange weather warning  , with 3 to 7 cm and locally up to 10 cm at higher elevations  .  The Vendée and Charente-Maritime departments will be hardest hit by heavy snowfall.

Continue reading…