Over New Year’s weekend, Europe experienced an unprecedented winter heatwave, setting several national temperature records. This extreme weather led to alarm among meteorologists and forced some ski resorts to close due to a lack of snow.
On January 1, temperatures soared to unprecedented levels across Europe. Warsaw, Poland, saw a record high of 18.9°C (66°F), surpassing the previous record set 30 years ago by over 5°C. In Bilbao, Spain, temperatures hit 24.9°C, more typical of July, while Switzerland recorded 20°C.
The warm weather and minimal snowfall resulted in the closure of some low-altitude ski resorts in the northern Alps and French Pyrenees. Countries including the Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, Czech Republic, Belarus, Latvia, and Lithuania set new national temperature records. Regional records were also broken in France, Germany, and Ukraine.
Warsaw, Poland, saw record-breaking January temperatures of 18.9°C, shattering the previous 30-year-old record.Meteorologists, including climatologist Maximiliano Herrera, described the event as “the most extreme ever seen in European climatology.” Scottish meteorologist Scott Duncan emphasized that the warmth was “truly unprecedented” and “hard to comprehend.”
This winter heatwave follows Europe’s hottest summer on record, which was marked by severe heatwaves and a significant lack of rainfall. The Copernicus Climate Change Service reported that 2022 saw the highest average temperatures for August and the June-August period, exacerbating concerns over food and energy supplies amidst rising prices linked to the conflict in Ukraine.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has highlighted the urgency of reducing global emissions to limit warming to 1.5°C. Without substantial cuts in fossil fuel use, avoiding catastrophic climate impacts will be impossible.