Wind zones map - France

On the map of the national annex, the French metropolitan area is divided into four wind zones identified from 1 to 4. Amendment A3, published in April 2019, replaces the division by cantons into a division by municipalities.

Zone	1	2	3	4
Fundamental value of the basic wind velocity vb,0	22m/s	24m/s	26m/s	28m/s

The French overseas departments, overseas territories and overseas collectivities each have a specific basic wind velocity.

Basic wind velocity for overseas departments

Zone	French Guiana	Mayotte Island	Martinique Island	Reunion Island	Guadeloupe Island
Fundamental value of the basic wind velocity vb,0	17m/s	30m/s	32m/s	34m/s	36m/s

Basic wind velocity for overseas territories and overseas collectivities

Zone	New Caledonia	Wallis and Futuna	Saint Martin	Saint Barths	Saint Pierre and Miquelon
Fundamental value of the basic wind velocity vb,0	36m/s	41.2m/s	36m/s	36m/s	36m/s

A variation have to be considered with the probability factor c_prob.

When the wind comes from a direction where the probability of occurrence of strong winds is less, a reduction can be considered with the directional factor c_dir.

You should also take in account the effect of the roughness of the terrain (vegetation / urbanization) and the effect of orography (terrain relief) to accurately determine the peak velocity pressure for each wind direction.

• 0 - Sea or coastal area exposed to the open sea; lakes and water bodies covered by wind over a distance of at least 5km.
• II - Open field, with or without a few isolated obstacles (trees, buildings, etc.) separated from each other by more than their height x40.
• IIIa - Campaign with hedges; vineyards; grove; sparsely populated.
• IIIb - Urban or industrial areas; dense grove; orchards.
• IV - Urban areas with at least 15% of the surface is covered with buildings whose average height is greater than 15m; forests.

The terrain categories have been transposed to Caledonian landscapes. The reference to terrain category IV is removed and categories 0 to III of standard NF EN 1991-1-4 are illustrated by the photographs below :

• 0 - Sea side.
• II - Open field.
• IIIa - Campaign with hedges.
• IIIb - Industrial areas.

Source: RCNC

See the features of Eurocodes Zoning for wind analysis in France
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