There’s no doubt Europe’s 2014/15 winter was a mild one, which was welcome as the continent had reeled from a string of 5 consecutive colder than normal winters in a row, from 2008 to 2013.
Unfortunately we cannot say the same for spring this year, at least so far. A blast of cold air is now gripping much of the continent and people in many areas this morning are waking up to snow (see here).
This is no April Fool’s prank
Worse, the cold snap is expected to continue through Easter. This morning the online Pforzheimer Zeitung (Pforzheim Newspaper) writes that Good Friday will see “snowfall down to the flatlands” as cold polar air refrigerates Europe. “At 5 kilometers elevation in the atmosphere, -40°C will prevail…”. (Obviously the extra CO2 won’t be trapping a whole lot of heat up there.)
At Twitter Swiss meteorologist Jörg Kachelmann this morning reminded followers and mocked how just two weeks ago a number of weather experts had predicted a warm spring for March, April, May”. Kachelmann is a noted harsh skeptic on long-term seasonal forecasts, claiming they are hardly worth the paper they are printed on.
On the other hand Joe Bastardi in an earlier Saturday Summary predicted weeks ago that cold would grip Europe at the end of March, early April. Dead on!
German WDR public broadcasting this morning reported “numerous car accidents” due to “snow and ice” on streets and motorways in the state of North Rhine Westphalia. The Schwäbische.de here reports of snowfall causing problems in Bavaria, southern Germany. The online Stuttgarter Nachrichten writes that the month of April has started with snow for Germany’s southwestern state of Baden Wurttemberg.
Wetter.de has posted an animation of the air flow across Europe over the next five days. A large high off the coast in the Atlantic in combination with a powerful low over eastern Scandinavia will be pumping masses of polar air through Europe. By Sunday, one sees that a white Easter is a real possibility – an event that rarely occurs in Central Europe. German DWD Weather Service forecasts snow at higher elevations over Easter, with nighttime temperatures falling to as low as -4°C, reports web.de.
The snow and cold fly in the face of global warming alarmists predictions of springtime arriving earlier and earlier. Climate alarmist Potsdam Institute scientist Friedrich-Wilhelm Gerstengarbe told German ZDF television two years ago that spring would be arriving earlier and earlier – because of global warming.
Of course the cold is due to the prevailing weather patterns, just as was the case for the mild winter. It has nothing to do with climate change, as global warming alarmists often would have us believe.
Thanks for the animation link, Pierre. Poor old Germany, but it seems we’ll be warm here in England. A good thing, too, for I shall be camping!
When I visited Germany in 1993, it was around the same time of year. Snow was still on the ground. Slushy Easter in NRW.
That was however from a winter that’d started “on time” and simply held on for a while.
Easter colder than Christmas? Looks like Arctic winds only letting up for about a day before returning on Monday; if the circulation model is “correct”.
Wash. D. C.’s cherry blossoms to be delayed because of cold.
Meanwhile, the Seattle area has been warmer than average.
Weather is of interest because it changes.
Will it rain on Sunday. “Chance” they say. Big help.
So the solar panel won’t be doing much. How are the wind turbines coping in the cold?
I am currently in NRW, near the Neanderthal and we got hailstorms again and again over the last 2 days.
At least you’re better off than some people in Wisconsin:
Enjoy while it’s good.
Wish I could comprehend more of what ‘ren’ on SG was saying. (English is not his main language, but I think I maybe grasp what he is saying.)
Northeast US has had its very, very cold period for now, but the polar vortex is now heading to Europe.. if I interpret his posts correctly.
https://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2015/04/02/erasing-the-unanimous-consensus-2/#comment-511660