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WEATHER

Austria sees unusually mild start to the year

Temperatures were forecast to remain above average for the first few days of 2022, according to Austrian meteorologists.

Published: 1 January 2022 11:45 CET
A man walks through the fog as mountains are seen in the background
A man walks through the fog as mountains are seen in the background near the small village of Ehrwald, Austria, during a mild winter day with temperatures of five degrees on December 30th, 2021. Christof STACHE / AFP

A combination of a mild westerly current carrying warmer air to Austria and a high-pressure area called Christine has been lifting temperatures across the country,  Standard reported.

Vienna was even thought to have had its mildest New Year’s Eve since 1941.

New Year’s Day was forecast to be cloudy and dry in the north and northeast of the country and the valleys could see some fog.

But temperatures remain spring-like and were expected to stay mild for the first few days of the new year, reaching up to 16 degrees in some areas, according to meteorologists from Austria’s Severe Weather Centre.

Vienna was forecast to start the year with highs of a balmy 15 degrees, but the south and west of the country would be cooler, with some areas seeing temperatures dip below zero during the day.

But it’s not quite time to pack away your jumpers as forecasts still indicated it would get cooler this coming week.

It should stay mild until at least Monday, with temperatures in the east of Austria exceeding 15 degrees, according to Austrian weather service Wetter.at.

Temperatures were forecast to dip from Tuesday with snowfall expected in mountainous and high-lying areas, it said.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: What will change about life in Austria in 2022?

 

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WEATHER

IN PICTURES: ‘Exceptional’ Sahara dust cloud hits Europe

An "exceptional" dust cloud from the Sahara is choking parts of Europe, the continent's climate monitor said on Monday, causing poor air quality and coating windows and cars in grime.

Published: 8 April 2024 14:15 CEST
IN PICTURES: 'Exceptional' Sahara dust cloud hits Europe

Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service said the latest plume, the third of its kind in recent weeks, was bringing hazy conditions to southern Europe and would sweep northward as far as Scandinavia.

Mark Parrington, senior scientist at Copernicus, said the latest event was related to a weather pattern that has brought warmer weather to parts of Europe in recent days.

“While it is not unusual for Saharan dust plumes to reach Europe, there has been an increase in the intensity and frequency of such episodes in recent years, which could be potentially attributed to changes in atmospheric circulation patterns,” he said.

This latest episode has caused air quality to deteriorate in several countries, Copernicus said.

The European Union’s safe threshold for concentrations of PM10 — coarser particles like sand and dust that that can irritate the nose and throat — has already been exceeded in some locations.

A picture taken on April 8, 2024 shows a rapeseed field under thick sand dust blown in from the Sahara, giving the sky a yellowish appearance near Daillens, western Switzerland. – An “exceptional” dust cloud from the Sahara is choking parts of Europe, the continent’s climate monitor said, causing poor air quality and coating windows and cars in grime. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

The worst affected was the Iberian Peninsula in Spain but lesser air pollution spikes were also recorded in parts of Switzerland, France and Germany.

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Local authorities in southeastern and southern France announced that the air pollution threshold was breached on Saturday.

They advised residents to avoid intense physical activity, particularly those with heart or respiratory problems.

The dust outbreak was expected to reach Sweden, Finland and northwest Russia before ending on Tuesday with a shift in weather patterns, Copernicus said.

The Sahara emits between 60 and 200 million tonnes of fine dust every year, which can travel thousands of kilometres (miles), carried by winds and certain meteorological conditions.

The Spanish Canary Islands off the coast of northwest Africa saw just 12 days within a 90-day period from December to February where skies were free of Saharan dust, the local weather agency Aemet had reported.

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