Weather alert raised in 50 departments as France braces for heavy storms

Weather alerts have been raised in 50 departments as an unstable weather system is set to sweep across much of the country bringing potentially violent storms on Sunday, June 1.

The storms are forecast to form along a south-west to north-east axis, stretching from Pyrénées-Atlantiques to Bas-Rhin.

The bad weather is forecast to start around mid-afternoon and last until midnight.

“This will lead to some powerful storms across a wide area,” meteorologist Yann Amice, founder of the Weather & Co forecasting site, told actu.fr. “These storms are not to be taken lightly.”

Large, fast-moving storm systems expected

The storms may take the form of MCS (mesoscale convective systems) - large storm clusters that can span 30 to 100km in width and move across vast distances, bringing intense rainfall, lightning, hail and strong gusts with them.

“These MCS systems are likely to be particularly energetic,” said Mr Amice. “We can expect localised but violent phenomena – and people should stay alert.”

The storms, which already brought dramatic skies and thunder to parts of the country on Saturday, are expected to intensify on Sunday and potentially last for several days

Forecasters blame a persistent south-westerly airflow, which is drawing in humid air following several days of hot weather.