Temperatures in the Alps are also rising faster than in the rest of the country.

While in the rest of France the temperature has risen by one degree Celsius in the past century, in the Alps above 1,800 metres altitude (5,900 feet) it had gone up by between one and three degrees during the winter period, the report said.

The fluctuations were particularly marked at the beginning and end of the winter and the rises especially evident from the 1980s and 1990s onwards, the report said.

"The French Alps therefore appear extremely susceptible to the warming of the atmosphere during the winter period," Meteo-France said.

The climate report, which covered the years between 1958 and the present day, revealed that "the most recent years were in the main deficient" as far as snowfalls were concerned.

The Alps are home to a vast skiing industry and resorts have in recent years expressed concern about falling quantities of snow.

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