Severe Thunderstorms, Hail, Wind at 100 km/h… 8 Departments in Orange Alert, almost 80 in Yellow Alert
While the weather was already rough, a new weather phenomenon will add even more instability for this day of Sunday 10th May 2026.
If you had decided to enjoy the long weekend of May 8 to offer you a break away from home, the weather was not there and we had to deal with rain and storms. And the latter are not about to leave and, even, will be more numerous for this day of Sunday 10th May 2026.
Thus, in its 10am bulletin this Sunday, Météo France places 8 departments on orange alert (including 7 in Occitanie) all for thunderstorms:
- Ariège thunderstorms
- Aveyron thunderstorms
- Haute-garonne thunderstorms
- Gers thunderstorms
- Pyrénées-atlantiques thunderstorms
- Hautes-pyrénées thunderstorms
- Tarn thunderstorms
- Tarn-et-Garonne thunderstorms
At the same time, 79 departments are on yellow alert:
- Ain thunderstorms
- Aisne : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Allier thunderstorms
- Hautes-alpes avalanches
- Ardèche thunderstorms
- Ardennes : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Dawn : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Aude thunderstorms
- Calvados : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Cantal thunderstorms
- Charente thunderstorms
- Charente-maritime thunderstorms
- Cher thunderstorms
- Corrèze thunderstorms
- Cote d’Or thunderstorms
- Côtes d’Armor : rain-flood
- Creuse thunderstorms
- Dordogne thunderstorms
- Doubs thunderstorms
- Drôme thunderstorms
- Eure : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Eure-et-loir : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Finistère : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Gard thunderstorms
- Gironde thunderstorms
- Hérault thunderstorms
- Ille-et-Vilaine : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Indre thunderstorms
- Indre-et-loire thunderstorms
- Isère : storms, avalanches
- Jura thunderstorms
- Landes thunderstorms
- Loir-et-Cher thunderstorms
- Loire thunderstorms
- Haute-loire thunderstorms
- Loire-atlantique : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Loiret thunderstorms
- Lot thunderstorms
- Lot-et-Garonne thunderstorms
- Lozère thunderstorms
- Maine-et-Loire : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Marne : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Haute-marne : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Mayenne : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Meurthe-et-Moselle : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Meuse : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Morbihan : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Moselle : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Nièvre thunderstorms
- Oise : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Orne : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Puy-de-dôme thunderstorms
- Pyrénées-orientales thunderstorms
- Bas-rhin thunderstorms
- Haut-rhin thunderstorms
- Rhône thunderstorms
- Haute-saône thunderstorms
- Saône-et-loire thunderstorms
- Sarthe : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Savoy thunderstorms
- Haute-savoie thunderstorms
- Paris : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Seine-maritime thunderstorms
- Seine-et-marne : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Yvelines : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Deux-sèvres thunderstorms
- Somme thunderstorms
- Vendée thunderstorms
- Vienna thunderstorms
- Haute-vienne thunderstorms
- Vosges thunderstorms
- Yonne thunderstorms
- Terr. of Belfort thunderstorms
- Essonne : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Hauts-de-Seine : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Seine-st-denis : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Val-de-marne : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Val-d’oise : rain-flood, thunderstorms
- Andorra thunderstorms
A double disruptive phenomenon
Contacted, the meteorologist Yann Amice explains the reasons for this instability over a large part of the territory. On the one hand, there is a low pressure minimum positioned off the coast of Portugal, “which continues to act as the main driver of instability in western Europe”.
But the new and particularly interesting element lies in the evolution of North Atlantic traffic. The thalweg currently descending through the British Isles adds new dynamic impetus to this already unstable situation.
A thalweg is a line of low pressure extending a depression and this will bring colder air to altitude. So more instability and therefore, thunderstorms.
In two stages
For his part, Météo France indicates that in the northwest quarter, you should expect sometimes stormy showers, from the morning, “from Pays de la Loire and Brittany to Centre-Val de Loire and sometimes the Paris region”. In the east, rain is already to be expected.
And things will get worse in the afternoon because a rain-storm axis is setting in over the northern 1/3 of France, with moderate rain locally causing high cumulative precipitation, particularly in Brittany.
Furthermore, during the afternoon, a stormy deterioration is organized in the southwest This storm line sweeps the south of Aquitaine, Midi-Pyrénées and Limousin, giving good accumulations of rain in a short time. These storms can be accompanied by hail and gusts of wind between 80 and 90 km/h, or even 100 km/h in places.
Auvergne, Languedoc-Roussillon and the west of Rhône-Alpes and PACA will be affected in the evening then during the following night, but these storms will gradually lose activity.
Enjoyed this? Get the week’s top France stories
One email every Sunday. Unsubscribe anytime.
