France's glacial temperatures show no sign of easing
France’s glacial weather is set to continue over the weekend as the national weather centre, Météo France, kept 50 of the country’s 95 departments on high alert and the authorities say at least 12 people have died because of the freezing temperatures.
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Météo France recorded average temperatures of between -4 and -11 on Friday morning,
Two homeless people have died in the cold snap in Paris and three in the northern Pas de Calais region. Two of them, a 90-year-old woman and a 59-year-old man, were found inside their homes.
And France’s railway operator, SNCF, says it was forced to cancel trains in the central Limousin region.
But the cold weather is not all bad news. The French Pyrenees are expecting a huge numbers of skiers this weekend when the school holidays begin for some regions of the country.
The Pyrenees, which has 38 ski resorts scanning the region from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean coasts, has seen snowfall of up to 20 centimetres over the past few days.
The region is fully booked for the four-week period which represents 50 per cent of turnover for the year.
Over the Christmas period, these ski resorts were only able to manage 40 per cent occupancy.
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