Europe has already broken temperature records this year, with Berlin to Warsaw recording the highest January temperatures, writes Bloomberg.
Temperatures in the German capital reached 16 degrees on New Year’s Day, a record for January, the authorities announced. In Poland’s largest city, temperatures were more than 5 degrees higher than the previous record. The Czech Republic recorded the warmest start to the year.
Unusually high temperatures were also in France, Switzerland or Austria. In the Alps, due to the unusually warm weather, green grass covers the mountains. The near-total absence of snow raises concerns about the impact of climate change on the evolution of abnormal temperatures this period.
MeteoSuisse, Switzerland’s weather service, has recorded some of the warmest temperatures ever for this time of year.
A weather station in Delemont, on the French border, has already reached a record average daily temperature of 18.1 degrees Celsius on the first day of the year. “This transition into the new year almost makes you forget you’re in the middle of winter,” Swiss meteorologists wrote on the weather service’s blog.
In Romania, January 2 was the warmest January day in the history of measurements recorded at 17 weather stations in the country. The highest temperature was recorded at Patârlagele, where it was 21.3 degrees Celsius.
Also read Why the extreme heat wave came to Europe
The heat wave reduced demand for natural gas
This winter’s heat wave in Europe has reduced demand for natural gas, easing pressure on the continent’s fragile energy systems and pushing prices down. In most areas, the unseasonably warm weather will persist, allaying fears that the region could face power cuts and blackouts amid cuts in gas supplies from Russia.
European gas prices fell as much as 6.5 percent on Tuesday, a day after hitting their lowest level since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The return of stronger winds in parts of Europe is also reducing pressure on the market. Germany is expected to produce a record amount of wind power on Wednesday, according to Bloomberg forecasts.
Publisher: RK
