No department is placed on orange alert this Monday 7th May, but conditions have deteriorated in the southern half of the country, where stormy showers, sometimes accompanied by hail, are expected.
It could not last. An air mass loaded with moisture has reached France by the south, Monday 7th May, after a sunny weekend , marked by pleasant temperatures, often above 20 ° C.
Meteo France, which did not emit orange vigilance, reported “locally strong thunderstorms , with the risk of significant rainfall totals in a very short time (of the order of 30 to 50 mm), hail and gusts of wind , on part of the southern half.
Lightning in the dark sky
These storms started in the middle of the afternoon, Monday, as evidenced by the many photos posted on social networks.
In Puy-Sainte-Réparade, in Provence, lightning streaked a sky suddenly dark, as in Ales, in the Cevennes.
#orages cet après-midi sur #Pertuis intercepté depuis le Puy-Sainte-Réparade. Fortes pluies, foudre et gros coups de tonnerre. 16h30 : #orage en approche de Lambesc, coups de tonnerre audibles pic.twitter.com/f5kk5yWOIN
— Jérémy Vagné (@jeremy_vagne) May 7, 2018
🌩 #Alès #orage pic.twitter.com/mWvHbnBuxl
— Ville d’Alès (@VilledAles) May 7, 2018
Hail storm in the Hérault
In the Languedoc, a deluge of hailstones surprised the small town of Riols (Hérault). “We had never seen that. A layer of 5 centimeters of hail, it seemed that it had snowed, “ said Dominique Marra, a resident of Riols, on the antenna of France Bleu .
#Vidéo de l’#orage de #grêle sur la commune de #Riols. 🎬 Marie Hernandez /@MeteoHerault @Midilibre @SDIS34 @Prefet34 @Heraultinfos pic.twitter.com/H3mZ0pPXo0
— Météo Hérault (@MeteoHerault) May 7, 2018
More thunderstorms on Tuesday 8th May
This Monday, the whole Occitanie region is concerned, as well as the west of Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur (Var, Bouches-du-Rhône, Vaucluse and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), until the beginning of the night.
The storms will go up through New Aquitaine and will evacuate in the night from Monday to Tuesday. A short respite because Météo France expects new showers, sometimes accompanied by thunderstorms, Tuesday, May 8, from Aquitaine to the Alps. Burgundy and the south of Alsace are also concerned.
