Weather records have fallen one after another Europe at an alarming rate in the past few days, meteorologists report.
The hottest January day was recorded in Poland, Denmark and at least eight European countries Czech RepublicThe Netherlands, Belarus, Lithuania and Latvia, according to data collected by climatologist Maximiliano Herrera, who monitors extreme temperatures.
in Korbielow, Poland, the mercury reached 19C (66F) – the temperature the Silesian countryside is more used to in May and 18C above the annual average of 1C for January. In Javornik in the Czech Republic it was 19.6C compared to an average of 3C for this time of year.
temperature in Vysokaje, Belarus, would normally hover around zero at this time of year. On Sunday they reached 16.4C, surpassing the country’s previous record of 4.5C.
Elsewhere on the continent, local records were broken at thousands of individual measuring stations, with about 950 destroyed. Germany alone from December 31 to January 2, Herrera said.
North and South of Spain France At 24.9C in Bilbao, beach weather was the hottest January day and records were broken at stations in Cantabria, Asturias and the Basque region. Only Norway, England, Ireland, Italy and the southeast of the Mediterranean Sea have been recorded.
“We can rate this as the most extreme event in European history,” Herrera said. “Let’s take the extreme heat wave in the UK in July 2022 and spread that sigma (amount) over a much larger area, covering about 15 countries.
“We can say without a doubt that this is the first time in Europe that an extreme weather event (in terms of extreme heat) is comparable to the most extreme in North America.”
The Met Office’s chief meteorologist, Alex Burkill, admitted it was an extreme weather event. “It’s been extremely hot over a large area, which is almost unheard of, to be honest,” he said.
Burkill said a warm air mass forming off the west coast of Africa was moving northeast from Portugal and Europe. SpainIt pulled in with high pressure over the Mediterranean Sea.
“It is widespread, DenmarkThe Czech Republic, as well as almost all of Germany, broke temperature records for January,” said Burkill.
“It’s also worth noting that we’ve had some pretty warm weather in the south of England. On New Year’s Eve, I think seven sites in the south of England recorded the hottest New Year’s Eve on record.”
Meteorologist Scott Duncan said temperatures across Europe were “amazing”. “We had a very warm New Year last year, but this blew it out of the water,” he said. “We’ve seen long-term records broken by wide margins in several countries.”
The causes were hard to pin down, Duncan said, adding that La Nina and anomalous warming of sea surfaces played a role. “None of the above is new, but what led to the record-breaking status? “Our warming atmosphere and oceans ultimately make it easier to break records.”
Professor Bill McGuire, who has written about the consequences of climate change, said higher temperatures were a sign of worse things to come.
“The most alarming thing about this is that the rate of global warming is such that it’s no longer a surprise,” he said. “This is a small glimpse into a future that will see winters turn into several months of dull, wet and mild weather with little frost, ice or snow.”
