Will France Experience “Its Most Violent Winter” in Forty Years? Caution

FAKE NEWS: According to a viral video on TikTok, France will experience “its most violent winter” in forty years. In reality, it is not possible to know at the moment

While the first winter temperatures are being felt in France, the country is reportedly entering “its most violent winter since 1985”. This is what a video says, published Tuesday November 18, and viewed more than 600,000 times on TikTok. Behind this content is the “geo_actu” account, which says it offers “Live news, 100% free! ” in his description. According to the voiceover, “temperatures felt around -10 to -15 °C” are to be expected.

“Icy gusts” and “a massive snow episode, even in regions where it almost never snows” are also mentioned in the video. “An emergency preplan” for this cold snap has even already been “launched” by “the government”. This would include, among other things, “traffic restrictions” and the “preparation of heated shelters for the homeless”. “France could experience a winter like we haven’t seen in decades”, the video concludes.

Fake News

France is experiencing this “first winter week”, writes Météo-France on its website. In question, “the arrival of a mass of polar air”, linked to a “depression” which “descends from the North Sea”, on the country. A few flakes are also expected in several lowland regions of the country, including Île de France.

On the other hand, “it is not possible to predict whether the winter will be particularly cold”, specifies the meteorological service 20 Minutes. As a reminder, Météo-France produces each month “a bulletin of average trends for the next three months”. The latest bulletin therefore indicates the trends, in other words “the most probable scenario” between “close, below and above normal”, over the period from “November 2025 to January 2026″.

” Climate trends are not weather forecasts “, warns Météo-France. Therefore, they ” do not provide information on the possibility of exceeding new values for the coming season “.

A recurring phenomenon

Currently, “for temperatures, the warmer than normal scenario is most likely for France”. “Fresher one-off episodes”, such as “this is the case for example this week”, are however “not excluded”.

Certainly “less frequent” because of “climate change”, these episodes – different from “cold waves” – are recurrent “at this time of year”, notes Météo-France. For example, in the month of “November 2010”, temperatures of “-15 °C in Orléans”, “-9 °C in Colmar”, and “-6 °C in Caen” were recorded. Far from main cold records in France.

Several cold waves since 1985

The winter of 1985, discussed in the video, refers to the cold snap that hit France in January 1985. “From the 3rd January to the 17th January” to be more precise, i.e. for “two long weeks”, indicates one article published on the Météo-France website ten years ago. The second coldest day ever recorded in France was even recorded during this cold snap: On January 16th, 1985. On that day, the average temperature nationwide was -9.9 °C.

More recently, France has experienced a cold snap in 2012, from the 1st February to the 13th February. As for the more brief cold peaks, the last recorded dates from February 2018.