France has been experiencing an unusually heavy snowfall, with Paris and other parts of the north and west blanketed in snow.

French weather forecaster Météo-France has issued an orange weather alert for all eight departments in the region.

Freezing temperatures are set to continue and the snow has caused widespread travel chaos – find the latest HERE.

Snow in France is usually concentrated in the mountains, with heavy snowfalls rare in lowland areas – especially in Paris which rarely gets more than a dusting of white.

Despite the practical problems, many Parisians got into the spirit – building snowmen, sledging in the city parks or taking photos of the capital artistically draped in white. 

Here’s a selection of the best pictures from around France, by the photographers at Agènce France Presse.

A pedestrian stands under an umbrella at the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris. (Photo by Christophe DELATTRE / AFP)

 


Champs-de-Mars near the Eiffel Tower. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)


Municipal workers have been spraying salt on the streets to remove the ice.  

 

Municipal workers in Paris. (Photo by JOEL SAGET / AFP)

 

Many people in Paris took to the streets to play with the snow, some were seen sledding and even skiing on the Montmartre hill under the Sacré Coeur Basilica, while the hilly Buttes-Chaumont park was also a popular sledging venue.

 

People play with snowballs on the Place des Vosges in Paris. (Photo by Eric BARADAT / AFP)

 

Snowfall in the Paris region started around noon on Monday in the département of Yvelines on the outskirts of Paris, where the gardens of Versailles are located. The weather intensified in the afternoon and schools closed at 3pm. 

 

Snow blankets the gardens of Versailles. (Photo by GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT / AFP)

Snow also fell in Brittany and Normandy, where school buses have been cancelled, in the western France départements  of Charente-Maritime, Deux-Sèvres and Vendée. 

A photograph taken on January 5, 2026 shows a field covered in snow, in Huelgoat, western France. (Photo by Fred TANNEAU / AFP)

 

Farmers are using their trucks to clear the roads of snow. 

 


Angevillers, northeastern France. (Photo by Jean-Christophe VERHAEGEN / AFP)

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Météo France predicts that Tuesday will bring clear skies in most of France, with the exception of Limousin, the north of the Auvergne and parts of the eastern region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, although temperatures will remain very cold.

 

Church and graveyard in Croisilles in Normandy, northwestern France. (Photo by LOU BENOIST / AFP)