French Alps hit by some very unseasonal July snowfalls

thelocal.fr
Fri, 11 Jul 2014 09:48 UTC

© Webcam

The French Alps looked more like a winter wonderland this week as the rotten summer weather continued in France.

Holidaymakers in the Alps in recent days would have been forgiven for thinking they had come in the wrong season after the region was hit by some very unseasonal snowfalls. There was bad news for sunseekers too with the sun set to stay away for much of July.

Parts of the Alps looked like a winter wonderland on Thursday as summer snow continued to fall, disrupting the usual holiday activities.

The regional newspaper Dauphiné Libere reported that tourists in the town of La Rosière were asking shopkeepers for toboggans so they could go sledging on the slopes.

At the resorts of Tignes and Val d'Isere, the snowfall ruined the chances of activities such as flyboarding and mountain biking.

The resort of La Rosiere

Val Thorens under the snow in July

The Parsa cable car near Chamonix

A photo from Le Pariisen newspaper showing kids making the most of the "summer weather"

A story in local newspaper La Daupiné Liberé about the summer snowfalls

The snow comes as the miserable July weather continues across France. With the holiday season about to begin in earnest, much of the country has been hit by heavy rain and there are growing concerns among sun seekers that the French summer could be a wash-out.

A forecaster from weather service Météo France has warned that we should expect the storms and heavy rain to continue until at least July 14 and that the bad weather will remain in the north of the country for the rest of July.

"Whatever it's like we shouldn't expect a big heatwave," Météo France's Michel Daloz told BFMTV.

The only place you'll be guaranteed sun is down on the Mediterranean the forecaster says, as well as along parts of the Atlantic coast if you are lucky.

Thankfully the weather forecaster says things should improve in Autumn and September, but nothing is guaranteed.