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A series of storms is expected to hit France this weekend and next week, putting an end to the latest heatwave that has meant temperatures of up to 40C in many parts of the country.

Saturday will be the final day of the current hot spell, which peaked in most places yesterday (August 12). There are still 16 departments in the west of the country on orange heatwave alert, with all of them also on yellow storm alert.

The first storms are expected over Saturday night and into Sunday morning, arriving over the eastern Pyrenees 鈥� Ari猫ge, Pyr茅n茅es-Orientales, Andorra.

They will then spread north towards the Massif Central, passing by Toulouse.

Sunday storms

By Sunday, the hot spell will be over and storms are expected over almost the whole of France, with the exception of the north-east, close to the border with Belgium, which will remain hot.

The strongest thunderstorms are expected between the Pyrenees and the central eastern part of France, with heavy showers, wind and a risk of hail.

The heavy rain could also lead to flooding in some areas as the ground, dried out from a succession of heatwaves, will not be able to absorb it.

Next week鈥檚 forecast

By Monday, high temperatures will have dropped around most of the country, with highs reaching up to 30C in some areas 鈥� a significant drop from the highs of 40C in the past week.

And the storms are set to persist.

"We are going to enter a week with violent storms over three quarters of France", R茅gis Cr茅pet, forecaster at M茅t茅o Consult, told La D茅p锚che.

鈥淭he beginning of the week will be unstable, between sunny spells and thundery showers, weather that we have not experienced at all since the beginning of July.鈥�

The storms should ease off later in the week, although it is not easy to predict at this stage.

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