If You Thought Our Recent Hot Spell Was Off The Charts, Check Out Europe!

Unprecedented winter heat has hit large swaths
of Europe in recent days. All time January records
 were exceeded by several degrees in a 
quite a few spots. 

As extreme as the record high temperatures we recently had in the Northeast, including Vermont, it was still nothing compared to the wild heat wave Europeans experienced while ringing in the New Year.

Weather and climate watchers said they are astounded by the level of unseasonable warmth in Europe. Especially since it is covering such a wide area and has lasted for a few days already. 

Climatologist Maximiliano Herrera, who tracks global weather extremes, told the Washington Post that this is "the most extreme event ever seen in European climatology.... Nothing stands close to this."

London, England based meteorologist Scott Duncan said "The intensity and extent of warmth in Europe right now is hard to comprehend," according to the Washington Post.   

Warsaw, Poland reached 66 degrees on New Year's Day, eclipsing the old record high for the entire month of January by a whopping nine degrees. It was also the hottest temperature recorded anywhere in Poland during the month of January.

At least seven other European nations recorded their hottest January temperatures on record. These include Liechtenstein at  68 degrees; Czech Republic at 67 degrees; Lithuania at 59 degrees and 55 in Denmark. 

Some ski areas had to close in the Alps, or curtail operations as snow that fell earlier in the season quickly melted away in the May-like weather. 

On the bright side, gas prices for heating fell because there was little need for it. The Russian invasion of Ukraine last year put major pressure on supplies, causing fears of severe shortages and skyrocketing prices this winter.

That's certainly still possible, but at least there's a break for now.

The record high temperatures have also spread into Ukraine, which is also good news. Lviv, Ukraine set the national record high for January at 59 degrees. The capitol, Kviv, reached a January monthly record of 56 degrees.

Russia is trying to freeze Ukraine into submission by destroying critical energy infrastructure. For now, the freezing is non-existent. I guess even Ma Nature hates Russia, along with almost everybody else.

Unfortunately, though, some cold Siberian air is forecast to move into Ukraine several days from now. 

According to The Guardian, warm air blossomed off the west coast of Africa and was then transported north and east into Europe by a high pressure system over the Mediterranean.

Climate change probably took what would have been a record heat wave to begin with and made it all the more extreme.