Thunderstorms and Significant Accumulations of Rain in France this Tuesday: Departments Placed on Orange Alert

The unstable weather sequence continues. For this Tuesday 5th May 2026, Météo France is warning of heavy rain, locally stormy. The forecasts.
After a remarkably good month of April dry in France, May 2026 begins with an unstable and rainy sequence as we detail in this article. The rains should water the whole of France at the start of the week, and thunderstorms will still concern, as during this May 1 bridge, many regions.
In its 4 p.m. bulletin this Monday, Météo France has already placed two departments on orange alert for this Tuesday 5th May: this is it Mayenne and there Sarthe, for rain-flood. This Monday evening, around 9 p.m., the weather organization added two departments on orange alert for the same day, namely gard and Hérault (for rain-flood), as well as for this Tuesday.
In the neighboring departments, but also from Centre-Val-de-Loire to Île-de-France, locally marked accumulations of rain are also expected. Other departments could thus go orange in the coming hours.
77 departments are placed on yellow alert for this Tuesday 5th May 2026:
- Ain thunderstorms
- Aisne : rain-flood
- Allier thunderstorms
- Alpes-de-Haute-Provence : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Hautes-alpes : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Alpes-maritimes : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Ardèche : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Ardennes : thunderstorms, rain-flood
- Ariège thunderstorms
- Aube : thunderstorms, rain-flood
- Aude thunderstorms
- Aveyron thunderstorms
- Bouches-du-rhône : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Cantal thunderstorms
- Charente thunderstorms
- Charente-maritime thunderstorms
- Cher thunderstorms
- Corrèze thunderstorms
- Côte d’Or thunderstorms
- Creuse thunderstorms
- Dordogne thunderstorms
- Doubs thunderstorms
- Drôme : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Eure-et-loir : rain-flood
- Gard : storms, floods
- Haute-garonne thunderstorms
- Gers thunderstorms
- Gironde thunderstorms
- Hérault : storms, floods
- Ille-et-Vilaine : rain-flood
- Indre thunderstorms
- Indre-et-loire : rain-flood
- Isère thunderstorms
- Swore thunderstorms
- Landes thunderstorms
- Loir-et-Cher : rain-flood
- Loire thunderstorms
- Haute-loire thunderstorms
- Loiret : rain-flood
- Lot thunderstorms
- Lot-et-Garonne thunderstorms
- Lozère thunderstorms
- Maine-et-Loire : rain-flood
- Marne : thunderstorms, rain-flood
- Haute-marne thunderstorms
- Meurthe-et-Moselle thunderstorms
- Meuse thunderstorms
- Moselle thunderstorms
- Nièvre thunderstorms
- Orne : rain-flood
- Puy-de-dôme thunderstorms
- Pyrénées-atlantiques thunderstorms
- Hautes-pyrénées thunderstorms
- Pyrénées-orientales thunderstorms
- Bas-rhin thunderstorms
- Haut-rhin thunderstorms
- Rhône thunderstorms
- Haute-saône thunderstorms
- Saône-et-loire thunderstorms
- Savoy thunderstorms
- Haute-savoie thunderstorms
- Paris : rain-flood
- Seine-et-marne : rain-flood
- Yvelines : rain-flood
- Deux-sèvres thunderstorms
- Tarn thunderstorms
- Tarn-et-Garonne thunderstorms
- Var : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Vaucluse : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Vienna thunderstorms
- Haute-vienne thunderstorms
- Vosges thunderstorms
- Yonne : thunderstorms, rain-flood
- Terr. of Belfort thunderstorms
- Essonne : rain-flood
- Hauts-de-Seine : rain-flood
- Seine-st-denis : rain-flood
- Val-de-marne : rain-flood
- Val-d’oise : rain-flood
- Andorra thunderstorms
This Tuesday, May 5, the rains, locally stormy, will linger in the northern regions, in particular between eastern Brittany, Pays de la Loire, southern Normandy, Île-de-France and Champagne-Ardenne. And they will end up giving significant accumulations, warns the organization Météo-France. In the south of the country, showers will also circulate and may also take on a stormy character.
Also read: Violent thunderstorms, hail and torrential rains until Wednesday in France: the regions concerned
This Tuesday 5th May, a rain-storm axis will stagnate a large part of the day from southern Brittany to Pays de la Loire, the Paris basin and the Ardennes, contributing to significant accumulations.
Temperatures will drop, except around the Mediterranean. And in this context, the snow will even make its return to the mountains, from 1,800 meters on the Pyrenees and 2,400 m on the Alps.

A predicted lull… but short-lived
Wednesday 6th May, in this atmosphere often a little cool for the season, the rainy front should still affect part of the north of the country in the morning, before sliding towards the east. And stormy showers will continue over a large southern part of France in the afternoon.
If this Thursday 7th May, the showers will be significantly reduced, from Friday 8th May – in a milder atmosphere– further stormy deterioration is already expected in the west of the country.
New stormy showers which should progress from the west on Saturday 9th May and affect a large part of the country on Sunday 10th May …
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