Weather in Europe 2021 - up

[Mark]

A powerful winter storm sweeping Turkey is bringing flight delays, road closures, and record-breaking snowfall in ski resorts, causing major disruptions for travelers.

The impact of the heavy snowstorm is being felt across multiple regions, from Istanbul's airports to popular winter tourism destinations like Uludağ, Palandöken, and Kartalkaya.

Flights Delayed as Istanbul Struggles with Heavy Snow

The snowstorm severely affected Istanbul's airports, with planes forced to circle above Sabiha Gökçen Airport due to poor runway conditions. The heavy snowfall reduced visibility, causing significant delays and forcing some flights to divert to alternative airports.

As the snowfall intensified on the evening of February 20, Sabiha Gökçen Airport had to temporarily suspend operations to allow runway and taxiway clearing. Snow removal vehicles worked extensively to remove ice and snow, ensuring the runway was safe for landings and takeoffs. During this period, several aircraft were left circling in holding patterns over Istanbul, awaiting clearance to land.
https://www.sott.net/article/497993-Snowstorm-hits-Turkey-Flights-delayed-ski-resorts-see-record-snow

[Mark]

Greece is enduring biting cold and record snowfall, delivered by front 'Coral'.

Thermometers have plunged to -12C (10F) in northern and mountainous areas, with much of the country seeing temps between -6C (21F) and 8C (46F), as per meteo.gr.

Snowfall has also swept large areas, including suburban Athens—an unusual sight. Magnesia and Evia are among the hardest hit, with road crews struggling to keep routes open. Records have fallen in these parts.
https://electroverse.substack.com/p/greeces-record-snowfall-cyprus-shivers

[Mark]

On Thursday, March 13, 2025, residents of Côte-d'Or were greeted with the unexpected sight of heavy snowfall blanketing the region. Starting early in the morning, around 5 AM, snow started falling across various areas, leaving many surprised by the abrupt shift from spring-like conditions to winter weather. Motorists and residents shared pictures of the snow on social media, capturing the beauty and chaos it brought.

Reports indicated significant accumulation, with places like Semur-en-Auxois measuring nearly 10 cm on the ground and Bligny-le-Sec reaching up to 15 cm. Such levels of snow were reminiscent of winter, which the region hadn't experienced for some time. This sudden snowfall led to complications for drivers, especially as thick flakes continued to fall throughout the morning, making travel hazardous.
On Thursday, March 13, 2025, residents of Côte-d'Or were greeted with the unexpected sight of heavy snowfall blanketing the region. Starting early in the morning, around 5 AM, snow started falling across various areas, leaving many surprised by the abrupt shift from spring-like conditions to winter weather. Motorists and residents shared pictures of the snow on social media, capturing the beauty and chaos it brought.
https://www.sott.net/article/498391-Surprise-heavy-snowfall-hits-Cote-d-Or-France

[Mark]

On Thursday, Côte-d'Or--a department in eastern France--was hit by rare March snowfall, blanketing the region.

Semur-en-Auxois recorded some 10 cm (3.9 inches), while Bligny-le-Sec picked up 15 cm (5.9 inches).



Snow settles at Château-Chinon on Thursday (at <600m / <1,970ft)
Roads became treacherous, with closures on the RD07 near Dijon and delays on the A6. Authorities issued a yellow alert for snow and ice, urging caution. Snowplows and salt trucks worked through the morning, but icy conditions and delays persisted.

Low temperatures throughout the day maintained the snow.




Looking ahead, another Arctic front looms this weekend, bringing more snow to eastern France, to Scandinavia, a lot more to the Alps, the Balkans, and Turkey:



GFS Total Snowfall (cm) March 14 - March 30 [tropicaltidbits.com].

https://electroverse.substack.com/p/surprise-snow-hits-cote-dor-feet

[Mark]

Heavy rains lead to orange alert as authorities prepare for significant overflows and evacuations

On April 20, 2025, the departments of Dordogne, Corrèze, and Gironde in southwestern France are grappling with severe flooding as they remain under orange alert due to relentless heavy rainfall. This weather phenomenon has led to significant water level rises in local rivers, with authorities warning of unprecedented overflow levels not seen in decades.

According to Météo-France, the orange alert for flooding was issued early Sunday morning, with predictions of continued rain throughout the day and into the night. The Vézère, Auvézère, and Isle rivers have been particularly affected, prompting emergency services to prepare for potential evacuations and property damage.

The situation escalated quickly, with reports indicating that certain areas received between 70 to 100 millimeters of rain in just 48 hours, equivalent to an entire month of rainfall. As a result, the prefecture of Dordogne indicated that flood levels could reach heights not witnessed since September 1993 or even January 1982. "The rainy episode continues, particularly in the north and east of the Dordogne department, and thus the watercourses continue to rise," stated the prefecture.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/UDiXuHskiDo?feature=share
https://www.sott.net/article/499162-Severe-flooding-hits-Dordogne-Correze-and-Gironde-in-France-months-worth-of-rain-in-48-hours

[Mark]

A cold wave has been gripping Europe since May 3, one forecast to stretch through the remainder of the month, particularly for central and eastern nations.

Snow has fallen below 1000 meters (3,280 feet) in the Romanian Carpathians — very rare for May.

While in Hungary, Nyírtass recorded a biting -4.4C (24F), tying the coldest May temperature ever logged in Hungary after May 4 (matching Szentgotthárd’s reading from 1978).
In Ukraine, the mid-spring conditions are even harsher.
https://electroverse.substack.com/p/snow-and-record-may-lows-hit-europe

[Mark]

Bâlea Lac in Romania posted a low of -6.3C (20.7F) during the early hours of May 12—the coldest May night on record at the high-altitude station, besting the previous May low of -5.5C (22.1F) set in 1979.
Daytime highs struggled to -1.8C (28.8F), setting a record for the coldest May 12, beating the 2001 mark of -1.4C (29.5F).
A fresh 6 cm (2.4 inches) layer of snow was measured Tuesday in the Făgăraș Mountains, where access is limited to cable car.
Much of Europe has held anomalously cold this month, with conditions set to persist:
https://electroverse.substack.com/p/record-may-cold-in-balea-lac-concordia

[Mark]

On May 15, heavy snow hit Zakopane in southern Poland, dropping around multiple inches in a few hours.

Snow is considered rare in mid-May here, with daytime temperatures typically ranging from 5C to 15C (41F to 59F). Low's here average 4C (39.2F) in May, making the -4C (25F) posted this morning (May 16) quite the anomaly.
https://electroverse.substack.com/p/heavy-mid-may-snow-hits-poland-europe

[Mark]

Severe thunderstorms with large hail hit parts of south-west France on Monday afternoon.

Meteo-France - the French weather service - had issued amber weather warnings in the Midi-Pyrenees and Aquitaine regions for thunderstorms and flash flooding. The service has provisionally reported that one person has been killed and another has been reported missing.

To the south of Toulouse, residents captured video of impressive hailstorms which ripped off tree branches and damaged crops.

Some of the large hail was reported to be the size of ping-pong balls.

The area of thunderstorms, producing approximately 13,000 lighting strikes in south-west France, also gave some significant rainfall totals.
https://www.sott.net/article/499665-Hail-the-size-of-ping-pong-balls-slam-southern-France-as-violent-storms-floods-hit-10-inches-of-rain-in-a-few-hours

[Mark]

Much of Eurasia is shivering, with vast swathes of Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Russia enduring temperatures far below seasonal norms—as much as 12C below in some parts.

In Ukraine, meteorologist Natalka Didenko warns of "a cold atmospheric front slicing through the country," bringing gusty northwest winds and a marked temperature drop.

The broader Eurasian region tells a similar story.

From the Balkans to Kazakhstan, the atmosphere is locked in a polar pattern:
https://electroverse.substack.com/p/anomalous-cold-from-ukraine-to-kazakhstan

[Mark]

A fierce summer chill has gripped Central Europe, dragging daytime highs down to autumn-like levels.

Driven by a stalled upper-level low, the outbreak set new record low maximum temperatures from the Netherlands to Czechia, readings more typical of mid-October than high summer — an event that has gone largely ignored.

Here are a handful of the new record low daytime highs set over the past few days:

Hohenpeißenberg, Germany, logged just 11.4C (52.5F). Pec pod Sněžkou in Czechia hit 12.4C (54.3F), a reading matched by Alberschwende, Austria. Liesek, Slovakia saw 12.5C (54.5F), while Zakopane, Poland recorded 13C (55.4F). Mt. Rigi and Spa in Belgium climbed to just 14C (57.2F) and 14.9C (58.8F), respectively. Szentgotthárd in Hungary posted 16C (60.8F), Hanstholm in Denmark 16.2C (61.2F), Nancy in France 17.1C (62.8F), and Voorschoten in the Netherlands 17.4C (63.3F).
https://electroverse.substack.com/p/records-cold-across-central-europe

[Mark]

Europe's hottest stretch of the year is proving a disappointment.

On July 28, ground temperatures in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany dropped into single digits, according to a WDR analysis. That’s mid-autumn, not midsummer.



"Autumn or summer…?," asks wobleibtdieglobaleerwaermung.

Forecasts from the ECMWF and GFS show little reprieve. Latest models project widespread rain and temperature anomalies of 6-12C below the baseline well into August — across much of Europe:



GFS 2m Temperature Anomalies for July 29 [tropicaltidbits.com]

The culprit is a stubborn Rossby wave pattern.

A persistent northwesterly flow is driving cool, moisture-laden Atlantic air into Central Europe, keeping temperatures suppressed and conditions unsettled—with heavy downpours and even snow in the Alps.
https://electroverse.substack.com/p/europes-dog-days-feel-like-autumn

[Mark]

Louiza Vradi
Reuters
Wed, 13 Aug 2025 17:58 UTC

Firefighters battled multiple wildfires across Greece on Wednesday, including blazes threatening villages and towns near the western city of Patras and on two tourist islands.

Fires have burned houses, farms and factories and prompted the evacuation of thousands of residents and tourists since Tuesday.

Dozens of people have been taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation since Tuesday, public broadcaster ERT reported. Some 13 firefighters have been treated for burns and other injuries, fire brigade spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis told a televised briefing on Wednesday.

Nearly 5,000 firefighters assisted by 33 aircraft were deployed from dawn to contain the flames stoked by winds and hot, dry conditions near Patras, on the tourist islands of Chios and Zakynthos and in at least three inland spots.
https://www.sott.net/article/501219-Wildfires-scorch-Greece-for-a-second-day-thousands-evacuate

[Mark]

The models are flagging an unusually sharp start to fall across central Europe.

The latest GFS runs project a completed cold-core low embedded in the polar jet stream at around 300 hPa (9 km) over the Alps by October 1. This setup is primed to deliver heavy snowfall, dragging snowlines down to below 1,500 m (4,900 feet).

Snow depth forecasts show up to 30 cm (1 ft) settling across wide swathes of the central and eastern Alps by midweek:



Snow depth via GScience Research Group (Heidelberg University)

This is a severe onset for September, and it comes with a broader European chill.

Widespread anomalies of -4C to -8C will engulf the continent this week.
https://electroverse.substack.com/p/early-snows-the-alps-siberian-snow

[Mark]

The Alps have flipped from late-summer warmth to early-winter cold in just days, with snowfalls of up to 2 feet now burying peaks in France, Switzerland, and Italy.

At Zermatt’s Gornergrat, temperatures are now below freezing; Italy’s Piedmont region logged its heaviest September snowfall in more than 30 years, forcing widespread road closures; and Switzerland’s famed Gotthard Pass also had to shut as drifts mounted.



Heavy September snow across the Swiss peaks [MeteoSchweiz on X]

Webcams show Tignes in France white from 2,700 m (8,860 ft) and the Matterhorn wrapped in fresh snow. Swiss snow chasers shared scenes of buried alpine roads, while hotels near the Rhône Glacier woke to mid-winter landscapes.



Gotthard Pass between Switzerland and Italy [SchneeToni Facebook]

This year’s totals actually fall a little short of last year’s (Sept 2024 saw a 3-ft storm), but the scale and intensity still marks this as a striking start to the 2025-26 ski season — and another data point in a growing run of early autumn snows across Europe.
https://electroverse.substack.com/p/feet-of-snow-hit-the-alps-early-snow

[Mark]

Romania has received early season snow this week, notable on the Transfăgărășan (Bâlea Lake sector).

Road crews have been plowing and salt-spreading across the country’s higher elevations, in Transalpina between Rânca and Obârșia Lotrului, in Maramureș at Prislop Pass, and across other high zones including Suceava’s Gura Haitii and Parâng-Șureanu.

The Administrația Națională de Meteorologie (ANM) has a countrywide advisory in force through October 2 warning of nationwide lows as well as sizable snows above 1,500 m [4,900 ft], with inches of additional accumulation on the cards.
https://electroverse.substack.com/p/romanias-mountain-snow-heavy-dumps