Disruptive storm turns deadly in France, brings 1st snowflakes of the season in Paris

A powerful system that brought the first snow of the year for some in the United Kingdom earlier this week also brought early-season snow to parts of southeastern France.

Meteo France, the French national meteorological service, issued orange warnings for snow and ice on Thursday to places like Rhone, Liore, Ain, Isere and Drome, according to the news agency France 24.

"The snow that fell was a heavy, wet snow with a high water content," said AccuWeather Meteorologist Tyler Roys.

When snow is very wet and heavy, the concern is that the extra weight could pull down power lines and trees, especially any trees that still have leaves on them.

The snow caused trees to fall and kill one person, according to the Associated Press.

Across six regions of southern France, as much as 330,000 homes were without power.

The spokesman from the energy company, Robin Debogelaere, described the outage as an "exceptional situation" due to the heavy concentration of damage in such a small area.

"This city of Lyon recorded 2 cm (1 inch) while locations just south and east of the city had upwards of 14 cm (6 inches)," added Roys.

Some locations in the higher elevations near the Alps reportedly got as much as 30 cm (1 foot) of snow.

The slushy snow made for numerous accidents and produced difficult travel conditions late on Thursday and into Friday morning.

According to SNCF, train traffic was also interrupted on three lines through at least midday on Friday. The agency was still cleaning up trees on the tracks and was concerned for more.

Meteo France lifted most of the once-issued travel warnings because of snow across most of the area Friday morning.

"Chilly air following behind this snow means anything slushy could refreeze, creating an icy situation," added Roys.

In addition to the blanket of snow left in southeastern France on Thursday night, rain in the Paris area changed over to snow on Friday afternoon.

Overall, despite falling snow, significant accumulations are not expected in the Paris area.

The active weather pattern in western Europe looks to continue through the weekend and into next week. A dip in the jet stream over the region will allow for opportunities for more storms and cooler air, which could spell more snow for parts of France before the end of the month.

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