New satellite images show the impact of Europe’s ‘winter heatwave’ in the middle of the continent’s winter ski season.
An image posted by the European Union’s Copernicus program shows a significant lack of snow around the Swiss town of Altdorf, which is close to ski resorts.
In Altdorf, the temperature reached 19.2 °C on New Year’s Day and did not fall below 16.1 °C during the night, breaking a previous record from 1864.
TikTok videos also show the disappointing snowpack at various ski resorts in the Alps, with bare patches of land exposed by melted ice.
This image, acquired on January 1, 2023 by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites, shows Altdorf, a Swiss town, where the temperature reached 19.2°C.
WHAT IS THE COPERNICUS PROGRAM?
The multi-billion dollar Copernicus program aims to help predict weather phenomena like El Nino and track the progress of global warming.
Three groups of twin satellites are currently orbiting the Earth, named Copernicus Sentinel-1, 2 and 3.
Your data can also help shipping companies plan more efficient routes and can be used to monitor wildfires, water pollution and oil spills.
The new satellite image was taken by Sentinel 2, one of the Copernicus program’s Earth observation satellites.
According to the programme, 2023 has begun with a “historic heatwave” that has swept across Europe, with many countries recording their warmest temperatures on record on January 1, possibly due to human-induced climate change.
“Hundreds of temperature records have been broken and summer temperatures have prevailed in numerous cities across the continent,” Copernicus says on its website.
“Copernicus open data and services are key to monitoring the impacts of climate change and extreme temperatures on alpine environments.”
European countries including Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland and the Czech Republic had their warmest January day since records began on New Year’s Day, according to meteorologists.
Abed in Denmark reached 12.6 °C (54.6 °F), while Korbielow in Poland reached 19 °C (66.2 °F) and Javornik in the Czech Republic reached 19.6 °C (67.2 °F). .
Bilbao in Spain also experienced its hottest January day ever on January 1st with 25.1 °C (77.2 °F).
European countries including Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland and the Czech Republic had their warmest January day since records began on New Year’s Day, according to meteorologists.
New national records set for January
Denmark (Abed): 12.6 °C (54.6 °F)
Poland (Korbielow): 19 °C
Czech Republic (Javornik): 19.6 °C (67.2 °F)
Latvia (Daugavpils): 11.1 °C (51.9 °F)
Netherlands (Eindhoven): 16.9 °C (62.4 °F)
Belarus (Visokaye): 16.4 °C (61.5 °F)
Lithuania (Marijampolė): 14.6 °C (58.2 °F)
Warsaw in Poland also hit 18.9°C (66°F), beating its own January record by over 5°C (9°F).
The data was compiled by Maximiliano Herrera, a climatologist and weather historian who runs the Extreme temperatures around the world (@extremetemps) Twitter account.
Herrera told the Washington Post that the period of extremely warm weather was “totally insane” and “absolute insane.”
It is “the most extreme event ever observed in European climatology,” Herrera said. “Nothing comes close.”
British meteorologist Scott Duncan also said: “The intensity and extent of the heat in Europe at the moment is difficult to understand.
“We have just observed the warmest January day on record for many countries in Europe.
‘Truly unprecedented in modern records.’
2023 is already expected to be one of the hottest years on record globally, partly due to the absence of the cooling “La Niña” weather pattern.
La Niña—Spanish for “the girl”—occurs when stronger east-west equatorial winds lower sea surface temperatures in the eastern equatorial portion of the central Pacific Ocean.
According to the Met Office, 2023 will be the 10th consecutive year that global temperatures will be at least 1.8°F (1°C) above pre-industrial levels.
The average global temperature for 2023 is expected to be 2.16°F (1.2°C) above the pre-industrial (1850-1900) average, it said.
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2022 will turn out to be the warmest year on record for Britain, the Met Office said.
As preliminary data shows, the average temperature for the full year is on track to surpass the previous all-time high of 49.7°F (9.88°C) set in 2014.
The exact number will be confirmed in the new year, but the Met Office is confident that 2022 will set a new 139-year annual mean temperature record.
Since records began in 1884, every 10 years of highest annual temperature in Britain has occurred since 2003
It blamed “the persistence of above-average warm conditions” throughout the year, while record-breaking heatwaves in July also pushed the average higher.
If preliminary data is correct, 2022 will top the list of the highest average UK temperatures since records began in 1884.
Currently, the years that make up this list are, in that order, 2014, 2006, 2020, 2011, 2007, 2017, 2003, 2018, 2004, and 2002.
The Met Office also said that in 2022, temperatures in the UK remained above average for every month of the year with the exception of December which has been cooler than average so far.
2022 has seen the coldest first two weeks of December since 2010 – an “abnormally cold start” to the month.
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