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WEATHER

Warm winter sparks early pollen alerts in France

Seven French départements have already issued warnings for high pollen levels after the unusually warm winter has seen trees flowering exceptionally early.

Published: 18 February 2020 16:53 CET
Warm winter sparks early pollen alerts in France
Photo: AFP/ RNSA

Bad news for hay fever sufferers – high pollen counts are here already in some parts of France.

The départements of Vosges, Haut-Rhin, Bas-Rhin, Vaucluse, Bouches-du-Rhône, Aude and Pyrénées-Orientales are on the red level of pollen alert while a further 11 areas in the south and east of the country are at the orange level.

Despite it being only February, pollen from alder and cypress trees is already at a high level due to the unusually warm winter – which saw temperatures of up to 27C recorded in France at the beginning of February.

MAP: The parts of France now most at risk from extreme weather


Map: Réseau national de surveillance aérobiologique

The Réseau national de surveillance aérobiologique (RNSA) which creates the pollen alert maps says the high levels are likely to last at least another month.

RNSA spokesman Samuel Monnier told France Info: “The mild temperatures favour the dispersion of pollens in the air.

“It's going to last, for cypress pollens, another good month around the Mediterranean. After that, there will be grasses and other species of trees.

“With climate change, we have longer seasons and higher concentrations of pollen in the air.”
 

 

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WEATHER

Norway to get a taste of summer with 20C days this week

Summer is finally here! Or least it is if you live in southern Norway, where a warm front coming up from Europe will bring t-shirt temperatures of 20C by Thursday, according to forecasts.

Published: 30 April 2024 08:42 CEST
Norway to get a taste of summer with 20C days this week

Warm air from southern Europe will combine with a high pressure zone which will bring clear skies and sunshine, with summery weather coming towards the end of the week, Norway’s national weather forecaster Yr has reported. 

“Thursday and Friday especially will be nice,” Ingrid Villa, a meteorologist at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, told the public broadcaster NRK. “Then we will probably get temperatures of over 20 degrees Celsius in some places.” 

Patches of 20C warmth are expected both in western Norway around Bergen and in Western Norway around Oslo, with the area around Tromsø expected to have slightly cooler weather, although Villa said that “it will absolutely be something like summer there too”. 

The warm sunny weather is, however, expected to pass northern Norway by, with grey overcast skies expected for much of this week. 

But if you think summer has come to Norway to stay, you risk disappointment as much cooler temperatures are expected next week.  

“There’s nothing unusual in getting an early taste of summer in April and the start of May, and then we can quickly go back to cooler more spring-like weather,” Villa said. 

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