“The first not very mobile storms are in place in the east of the Var. A very active storm line approaches the Cévennes Gard”, specifies the meteorological institute in its latest bulletin.
“The storms start towards the Gulf of Sainte-Maxime from this end of the morning, with strong cells presenting a stationary character”, for its part indicated the prefecture of Var in a press release.
“This stormy situation will become generalized during the afternoon to the whole of the department with a very strong risk of thunderstorm giving hail, gusts of wind and strong rain intensities of the order of 80 mm in a short time” , she adds.
An intensification of the meteorological phenomenon is expected between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. with strong electrical activity accompanied by hail and gusts”, alerted the Gard prefecture, where the stormy episode is expected to end around 2 a.m. in the morning.
Also in the Gard, school pick-up will be anticipated at 4:00 p.m. for all establishments in the department, with a general stoppage of classes at this same time. Parents whose children do not benefit from a school pick-up service are also invited to pick up their children at 4 p.m.
“Storms will continue to develop on the shores of the Mediterranean, (…) with intense precipitation”, anticipates Météo-France, which expects “up to 40 to 60 mm” of precipitation, “even 70 to 100 mm in a short time” and “punctually a little more because of a risk of stationarity”.
Hence a “risk of runoff and flooding in places”, warns the institute.
The Bouches-du-Rhône, the Gard and the Vaucluse had been placed early Friday morning in orange vigilance “thunderstorms” by Météo-France, which then extended this vigilance to the Var, also concerned by a risk of “rain-flood”.
For the time being, this orange vigilance must end on Saturday at 06:00.
In “the neighboring departments placed in yellow vigilance for the storm parameter (all French departments are, editor’s note), locally violent storm cells are not to be excluded”, also underlines Météo-France.
The weather this Friday is marked by the passage of a stormy disturbance over the whole territory. Present in the morning over a large western strip of the country, it is gradually moving eastward.
