Very mild weather across parts of Europe by Dan Corbett
Very mild weather across parts of Europe
Some very mild weather has spread across parts of Europe in the past day or so. Temperatures on Wednesday reached into the 20’s from Spain through France and even to the British Isles. Gravesend, Kent east of London, England reached 20 C (68F) on Wednesday. This is 10 C above the normal high of 10C. Bilboa, Spain reached 28C (82F) and Biarritz in southwest France climbed to 25C (77F). Their normal mid-March highs are around 15C (59F).
In contrast to this the winter coats were still quite necessary across Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. Krakow, Poland warmed to only 5C (41F), normal mid-March high 8C, and Stockholm, Sweden barely made it to 0C (32F). The snow was still falling in places as well.
The very mild and cold weather is all because of quite a large ridge of high pressure centred over southern France. The clockwise flow of air around the high has brought very mild air from North Africa and Southern Spain as far north as the British Isles. On the flip side of that cold northerly winds have pushed down from the artic over Scandinavia and Eastern Europe on the back side of an area of low pressure over western Russia.
This very mild spell over Europe is probably the warmest so far this year. In some places it has changed from late winter to spring almost overnight. It is almost like turning off a hot water tap and then on again. This warm spell will more than likely make much of Western Europe look far more Spring like over the next few days as plants and flowers begin to bloom.
Time to get out in the garden!
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