Alps: five departments in vigilance orange snow for hunting … – Le Point

The Ain, Isère, Haute-Savoie, Savoie and Hautes-Alpes were placed under vigilance orange ice and snow from Saturday morning classified black day in the direction of departures on a driving holiday in Rhône-Alpes, said Meteo France on Friday in a statement.

The meteorological operator indicates that a “snowfall at low level” may “significantly disrupt traffic conditions given the context of cross-over vacation.”

vigilance will be activated from 6:00 Saturday. The end of the event is not expected before 11 p.m. Saturday.

“On reaching the east of France on Saturday, the limit of the snow will gradually lower from the end of morning to about 400 / 500m altitude in the afternoon of the Jura and the Alps of the North and 600 / 700m on the southern Alps, “notes Météo-France.

Between 3 and 8 cm of snow to 400 / 500m, 10 to 15 cm between 600 and 800m and 15 to 30 cm above 1000-1200 m, specify the Météo-France, noting that “the pre-Alpine mountains will be more affected the interior valleys. “

According to Traffic monitoring, the day Saturday, which will intersect vacationers from all areas towards or from the ski resorts, is classified as black area Rhône-Alpes in the direction of arrivals and orange in the direction of returns.

It is recommended to avoid driving on major routes serving the Alps, between 8:00 ET 8:00 p.m. for departures and between 10:00 and 6:00 p.m. for returns.

“The Interior Ministry calls on drivers to exercise extreme caution,” said the spokesman of the ministry, Pierre-Henry Brandet.

“Users who want to leave the winter resorts or access must, in order not to be surprised and trapped, being in possession of special equipment,” added Mr. Brandet.

“This evening, a large gendarmerie is in place in the departments concerned to be able, under the authority of the prefects, to face the consequences of this climatic episode,” he has completed.

Between Christmas and New Year, a crossover chased weekend combined with significant snowfall had caused a black day on the road Savoyard resorts and nearly 15,000 people had to be accommodated in emergency shelters.

Isère, the prefecture said that the movement of heavy goods vehicles over 7.5 tonnes was banned Saturday from 7 to 18h in the department.

2/20/2015 8:36:26 p.m. – Lyon (AFP) – Â © 2015 AFP