Unprecedented winter heat recorded across Europe
Winter temperatures are breaking records across Europe in what has been called an unprecedented heatwave.
Eight countries have seen national records broken over New Year, including in the Netherlands, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Latvia, Czech Republic, Poland, Denmark and Belarus.
Residents of the village of Korbielow in Poland saw in New Year’s Day with temperatures of 19.0°C, while temperatures reached 16.9°C in Eindhoven in the Netherlands.
Temperatures were also 10°C above average in Bilbao in Spain which was 25.1°C on Sunday, similar to the average temperatures in July.
Climatologist Maximiliano Herrera called the weather event ‘totally insane’ and ‘absolute madness’, as he told the Washington Post nothing close to this had ever been seen before in European climatology.
The extreme weather is having a huge impact on ski resorts in the Alps which rely on winter sports for their economy.
Adelboden in Switzerland had planned for the World Ski Cup to take place on January 6th, but a lack of snow means this will now have to take place on artificial snow.
Conversely, a huge snowstorm hit the USA and Canada two weeks ago which saw temperatures drop to -28 in northwest Canada and -10 in the sunshine state of Florida. As a result, at least 46 people have died in the US.
Climate scientists have warned extreme weather events like this will occur more frequently and become more intense if the climate crisis is not tackled effectively.
Global temperatures have warmed by approximately 1.1°C compared to the pre-industrial era and are set to rise even further without urgent action to cut carbon emissions.
UN secretary general Antonio Guterres has said ambitions to limit global heating by 1.5°C were ‘gasping for breath’ and that the world is on a ‘highway to climate hell’ without sufficient climate plans from governments.
Photo by Victor Serban