Weather-France has placed in red vigilance “raw” the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and the Landes. The Hautes-Pyrenees, the Haute-Garonne and Ariège are in red vigilance “rain and flood”.
Le Monde with AFP
Strong rainfall were expected on Monday, January 10 on the departments of the Pyrenees, announced Weather-France , which provides a” strong risk “of avalanche, with threat to the roads and mountain infrastructures.
Weather-France has placed in red vigilance “raw” the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and the Landes. The Hautes-Pyrenees, the Upper Garonne and Ariège are in red vigilance “rain and flood”. A Orange vigilance “raw” is maintained in the North, Aisne and Gers and in the Eastern Pyrenees for Risses, according to a bulletin broadcast at 3 hours.
The risk of avalanche is “strong” (level 4) on all the massifs, except Aure-Louron and Cerdagne-Canigou. Avalanches occur in humid snow up to 2,200 m altitude. Above this limit, avalanches will be able to occur in dry snow, but mingle with wet snow by reaching lower altitudes. Spontaneous avalanches of large sizes are possible in many slopes and can threaten mountain roads and high mountain stations infrastructure.
Cumuls of important precipitation
The precipitation should diminish by the East at the end of the day and bring a drop in spontaneous starting risk no longer requiring orange vigilance from Tuesday morning.
Cumulations of precipitation will become important over all the Pyrenean departments. During the episode (about forty-eight hours between Sunday and Monday), we are waiting for cumulations of the order of 50 mm to 80 mm in plain, 100 mm to 130 mm on the first foothills, valleys and footpaths, 150 mm to 250 mm in the mountains, very locally a little more. The melting of the snowpack present below 2,000 m will help strengthen these cumulations.
Note, a long northwest swell could upset the coastal flows of watercourses, despite a context of low tidal coefficients, constituting an aggravating factor.