At the turn of the year, most of Europe was engulfed in arctic air that had entered here from the polar regions as part of a disturbed and vacillating polar vortex. The continent thus experiences true winter conditions.
This was particularly evident in temperatures that were locally up to 15 °C lower than the long-term normal. In Scandinavia, temperatures around −40 °C were recorded for the first time this year, here in the Šumava, thirty-degree frosts and low temperatures also hit countries where they are not very common.
The second manifestation is the increased frequency of snowfall. According to satellite data from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center, the extent of snow cover on January 5 was about 7.8 million square kilometers, or almost 70 percent of the European continent.
In recent days, strong storms have also brought more snow to areas where there was no snow on January 5, for example in some regions of Western and Southern Europe or the Balkans. It is therefore likely that the current extent may already be close to three-quarters of the continent.
The snow also hit non-traditional areas
The largest snow areas are found in northern, central and eastern Europe, where many countries have almost full coverage. We also have an above-average range of snow cover in the Czech Republic. But this is a phenomenon that is not so unusual.
Photo: CBK PAN
The extent of snow cover in the Czech Republic is significantly above average.
Much more attention is paid to the regions of Western and Southern Europe, where snow is relatively rare. For example, the Netherlands is almost completely covered in snow, while at the beginning of January, the snow cover here only covers about 10% of the territory on average.
Great Britain and France also have an unusually large extent of snow cover. It is from these countries that a large amount of news goes out into the world, reporting on significant traffic problems and the winter fun of the locals.
With the arrival of the Goretti storm, it snowed again in Western Europe, but it will warm up afterwards and the snow will melt here quickly. However, cold air will move further south and east, where snow will instead blanket the southern Balkans, so the overall extent of snow cover in Europe will remain high.
