150 km long traffic jam: Rare amounts of snow in Paris

The rare occurrence of snow in Paris has paralysed traffic. Despite the rather small amounts of snow, cars lined up for several kilometres.

Winter has arrived in France. Snow and ice brought traffic in the greater Paris area to a standstill on Tuesday night, 9th January. Traffic was backed up for more than 150 km on freeways and country roads.

A problematic section of a main road from Paris to the south was closed, with a total of over 100 accidents across the region.

The cause of the traffic chaos was a weather front that moved across France on Monday evening, 8th January, into the early hours of Tuesday 9th January, producing snow. The sub-zero temperatures turned the roads into an ice rink in some regions.

In the centre of Paris, 2 to 3 cm of snow was measured, the most since January 2021. Near Caen, the snow cover was around 6 cm high. There hasn't been this much snow in this region since March 12th 2013.