In the first week of the new year 2024, European countries face terrible cold and unexpected floods. On January 7, the European Climate Policy Agency issued a warning that extreme weather is ‘accelerating’.
Dr. Carlo Buontempo – Director of the Copernicus Center said that the fact that Northern European countries were submerged in snow for a week could be considered a record for coldness. In Sweden, people had to experience the coldest January nights since 1999, when in some places the temperature dropped to minus 42 degrees Celsius. Particularly in Kvikkjokk – Arrenjarka, the temperature was measured at minus 43.6 degrees Celsius – the lowest level in the past 25 years. The Swedish army has been mobilized to support rescue operations.
In Denmark, the snow was the heaviest since 2011. People were advised to avoid driving around Aarhus – Denmark’s second largest city, where traffic jams stretched up to 30km. “Many roads have big problems, many people are stuck for hours. Think carefully and stay home” – Danish police warned on social networks.
Meanwhile, in Finland, the temperature in the Northwest fell to minus 42 degrees Celsius. The coldest was the Enontekio region: minus 43 degrees Celsius. According to the Finnish Meteorological Institute, this country only recorded temperatures below minus 42 degrees Celsius 3 times since 2000 until now.
People living in Helsinki (Finland’s capital) were surprised when water pipes froze and burst. Throughout the week children and the elderly were forced to stay indoors. Snowstorms and cold caused traffic disruptions and caused many schools to close. That’s something many people couldn’t expect when Helsinki just experienced the hottest summer in history.
In Russia, cold air waves from Siberia and the Arctic swept down, causing temperatures in Moscow and other areas to drop to minus 30 degrees Celsius, much lower than the average temperature on the first day of the year. new 2024. Authorities in Moscow and St. Petersburg have issued orange weather warnings, advising people to take precautions against health risks.
A harsh winter with record low temperatures has caused extreme ice conditions, disrupting traffic in many areas of Russia. Russia’s RT station reported that not only Moscow and St. Petersburg, but also the central regions of the country of birches, including Vladimir, Ivanovo, Kostroma, Tver and Yaroslavl, the temperature was still at minus 35 degrees Celsius. Particularly In the Sverdlovsk region, the temperature dropped to minus 40 degrees Celsius.
Heavy snowfall caused many flights to be delayed or canceled. Snow and ice also cause problems with rail traffic. In the Chelyabinsk region in the Urals, railway lines were temporarily suspended. A Lastochka electric train was stuck for three hours in the Vladimir region, on the way from Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod, in minus 30 degrees Celsius weather.
Meanwhile, the Russian Federal Meteorological Agency warned that the unusual cold wave will spread to 70% of the country’s area in the coming days and will not subside before January 10. In some areas, temperatures even threaten to drop to minus 54 degrees Celsius.
If Russia and Northern Europe are covered in snow, some places in Western and Central Europe will be hit by storm Henk (landing on January 2), bringing heavy rain, causing widespread power outages, disrupting transportation. pine.
The Dutch water management agency said part of the dyke that regulates water levels was swept away. Water on the Maas River near the city of Maastricht is rising. In France, heavy rain poured down in the Pas-de-Calais and Nord regions, forcing thousands of people to evacuate and 10,000 households without electricity. Roads in the town of Blendecques turned into rivers.
Similarly, many German areas are struggling with flooding due to heavy rains, especially the state of Lower Saxony. In the UK, the Environment Agency issued a yellow warning for cold weather, while maintaining a flood risk warning for about 1,000 homes in England. In midland areas on the River Trent, water levels reached 5.35m – close to the record high of 5.5m recorded in 2000.
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Meteorologist Fabian Ruhnau told Luxembourg’s RTL Today television channel that heavy rains in Europe are partly due to strong winds from the North Atlantic blowing straight into Central Europe. El Nino causes rising sea levels to attack Europe’s outdated storm and flood prevention system. Cold and floods appearing at the same time have shown that many European countries have not adequately responded to climate change. “Outdated defense systems are leaving many communities submerged in floodwaters. Construction development along river banks has put additional strain on the drainage system,” Dr. Ruhnau said, recommending that Europe needs to improve flood prevention and control capabilities, early warning systems and recovery measures. recovery to minimize the consequences.