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CLIMATE CRISIS

Record-breaking winter temperatures warm Europe

Europe has seen "extreme" warm winter weather in recent days, experts have said, with 2023 already posting record temperatures for January across the region.

Record-breaking winter temperatures warm Europe
A hiker walks past a stopped chairlift at Le Semnoz ski resort, near Annecy on 27th December 2022, as the resort had to close temporarily due to the lack of snow. Photo by JEFF PACHOUD / AFP

As temperatures rise globally because of human-caused climate change, scientists say heatwaves and spells of warmer-than-average weather are becoming more common throughout the year.

After experiencing searing summer heat and a drought unprecedented in centuries, a wave of warm weather across Europe this winter has melted the snow from ski slopes in the Alps and Pyrenees, and seen temperatures above 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit) even in normally-freezing central
regions.   

Several European countries saw record-breaking heat on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Hundreds of weather stations across Europe have recorded all-time highest daily temperatures for the months of December or January, it said this week.

Freja Vamborg, Senior Scientist at Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), said the current winter heatwave is an “extreme” heat event in Europe in terms of how far temperatures have deviated from what is expected at this time of year.   

Here Vamborg answers some key questions about the heatwave:

What caused these high temperatures?

“On the 1st of January there was a strong flow of air from the southwest across the affected area, which would have brought warmer air further north and penetrated unusually far east, reaching even to Belarus. Minimal snow cover was very probably another relevant factor.”

“The circulation of any given weather situation and climate change are not two independent things. Climate change itself also has an impact on the circulation, and will also impact how warm those moving air masses are. This is what makes it so complex to disentangle just simply a weather event, from
the level to which climate change influenced such an event.”

How is climate change involved?

“With increasing global temperatures, heatwaves and warm spells are becoming more frequent and intense — this is not restricted to the summer months.”

“While the warming trend in Europe is on average stronger in the warmer seasons, winters are also becoming warmer as a result of global temperatures.”

“Northern Europe has warmed more strongly in winter than in summer, while in the south the warming trend is more apparent in summer.”

What is the impact of these high winter temperatures?

“A couple of things can be mentioned for warm temperatures during the winter months. While it means less need for heating of housing and other infrastructures, low snow cover affects the winter tourism industry.”

“Possible impacts on natural ecosystems, include early return from hibernation, which may have negative impacts if followed by much less mild/freezing conditions.”

“The overall impact will be different depending on the longevity and intensity of the event.”

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CLIMATE CRISIS

No winter snow on Spain’s Teide for first time in 108 years

Tenerife’s Mount Teide, the highest peak in Spain, has not had any snowfall during the winter months for the first time in over a century, after the Canary Islands experienced their hottest January and February since records began.

No winter snow on Spain's Teide for first time in 108 years

Anyone who has visited Tenerife in the Canaries will be familiar with the majestic Mount Teide, a 3,715-metre-high dormant volcano that dominates the island’s varied landscape.

Despite the archipelago’s traditionally mild weather during winter, such is the altitude of El Teide that during periods of rainfall in the archipelago the mercury plummets below zero and the volcano and surrounding national park are covered in snow. 

Not this winter however, not once during the period running from December 1st to February 29th has the iconic symbol of Tenerife been snow-capped, the first time it’s happened in 108 years. 

Climate change deniers on the islands have been quick to respond that there was some snow on Teide in November, but this was only on the tip and lasted a couple of days as the mercury then reached abnormal temperatures above 30C.

This is no normal winter for the so-called fortunate islands, having recorded the hottest January and February temperatures on record, 2.5C above the average winter temperature of 17.7C.

There has also only been 12 days over the winter months without calima, sand that blows over from the nearby Sahara desert creating a haze that makes it harder to breathe. 

READ ALSO: What is ‘calima’ and is it bad for you?

In the easterly Canary island of Fuerteventura, the municipality of La Oliva recorded a record 31.7C on January 16th.

There’s also been far less rain than usual, a worrying situation given that Tenerife’s government recently declared a drought emergency with a view to introducing water restrictions before the drier hotter summer. 

“There has been an accumulated rainfall of 36 litres per square metre (during winter), that’s only 28 percent of the expected precipitation for this period,” state meteorologist David Suárez told journalists.

This drier and hotter climate largely explained why wildfires destroyed huge parts of Tenerife’s dense forested areas in August of 2023, the worst fires in forty years.

“We’re facing one of the driest winters in recent history and ensuring the water supply for citizens and for Tenerife’s countryside is an essential issue that cannot have political preferences,” Cabildo president Rosa Dávila told the press about the island’s drought plans.

It’s a worrying scenario for Tenerife and the 7 other islands that form part of this Atlantic archipelago off the coast of Western Sahara. 

Their geographical location and the trade winds that sweep through them used to ensure that they were a refuge during the bitter cold winter months and scorching summer in the distant European continent, which explains why tourism has long been the single most important industry in the Canaries.

This pleasant mild weather is now at risk, and the absence of winter snow on El Teide is the latest example of how climate change is transforming weather patterns in the Canaries and Spain as a whole. 

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