Rain and falling temperatures: the weather will deteriorate across France from the middle of the week.

We shouldn't have gotten used to it. The generous sunshine and exceptional mild weather that have accompanied us for the past ten days will give way this week to gloomier weather. Starting Wednesday, showers will sweep across the Grand Est region, the Paris region, the Massif Central, the Alps, and the Southwest, according to Météo-France forecasts. After a drier Thursday, the weather will deteriorate again on Friday. Rain is expected across all of mainland France, except for the Mediterranean coast. This unsettled weather is expected to continue throughout the weekend. Lows of 4°C are expected. Temperatures will drop significantly starting Tuesday. While temperatures reached as high as 19°C in some areas this Monday, "maximums could drop to around 9 to 11°C in many regions, a few degrees below the seasonal average for mid-March," notes the weather website La Chaîne Météo. In some regions, the transition will be abrupt. On Friday, temperatures will reach 8°C in Paris, 7°C in Lille and Brest, 6°C in Toulouse and Strasbourg, 4°C in Lyon, and 3°C in Belfort. Lows of 4°C are also forecast for Montpellier, although the Southeast should be spared from the rain.

This more seasonal weather contrasts sharply with a "historic" February marked by record rainfall, exceptional flooding, and almost unprecedented mildness.

Over the course of last month, rainfall exceeded the average by 100%, while temperatures were 3.5°C above the 1991-2020 average, ranking February as the second warmest winter since 1900.

The meteorological winter (December to the end of February) ranks as the fourth mildest since 1900, behind the winters of 2019-2020, 2015-2016, and 2023-2024, with a temperature anomaly of +1.7°C.