France's weather bureau has forecast a cold weekend ahead, with snow and ice warnings for the north of the country from Friday. The expected sub-zero temperatures are a bad sign for fruit tree farmers still struggling to bounce back after a devastating frost period ruined crops just under a year ago.
France's national weather bureau Météo France has issued an "orange level alert", warning that snow and ice could be expected from in much of France, particularly in the north.
Temperatures are to drop as low as minus 3 degrees in some places, with strong winds accentuating the cold.
This is due to "polar air", coming down from northern Scandinavia, explained Véronique Ducrocq, head of forecast operations for Météo France, in a press briefing.
As of Saturday morning, several regions are likely to experience frost, which could be of concern for orchards where many of the trees have begun to flower due to warm weather in March.
Repeat of history?
It's exactly this kind of scenario that has professionals in the fruit-growing business worried, as it echoes two devastating cold snaps in April 2021.
For many nights in a row, fruit tree farmers did everything they could to limit the damage, such as lighting candles and fires amid orchards and vineyards.
Faced with Thursday's forecast, Charlie Gautier, the vice-president of the national fruit producers federation (FNPF) says growers must brace themselves for the worst.
In the Loire region, David Feuillette, an arborist, told BFM TV he intends to spend each night watching over his fruit trees to protect them from frost. He plans to sleep in his car, near the orchards with an alarm set so he can check the temperatures every 15 minutes.
This year, he intends to sprinkle water over the trees to create a protective shell. He is hoping the light layer of ice will insulate the young flowers and fruits from the frost.
During last year's cold snap, he lost between 50 and 85 percent of his harvest. And that's after spending 26 nights a row in sleeping in his car.
"If the temperatures go below zero, there won't be anything to harvest, and as you can imagine, without a harvest, our business cannot survive, we'll have nothing to pay the wages," he said.
Around 3-5 cms of snow can be expected during the day on Friday across much of France, with up to 5-10 cms in the Hauts-de-France, creating difficulties on roads.
Between 1-5 cms of snow might fall in the Paris area, however forecasters say it is unlikely to stick to the ground.
It is not rare to see snow in April, however. In 2008, a light snowfall was recorded in Paris and the north of the country. In 2013 and 2018, it snowed in Normandy.
