Spring Weather Review

Record-breaking cold, rain and snowfall

According to global satellite data, the world’s average temperature has fallen below the level it was at twenty years ago. Technically speaking, the world is colder today than it was when Greta was born. Just sayin’!

Temperature records are being broken in Europe and around the world. Temperatures have been hitting record lows, huge downpours have been catching many by surprise, and record snowfalls have offered a mixed blessing for people across Europe, North America and elsewhere.

This article gives a quick roundup of some weather-related headlines that have caught my eye in previous weeks.

Much of the information in this article, unless otherwise referenced, has been obtained from the really useful electroverse.net website.

Enjoying the weather at my favorite, Scandinavian springtime swimming spot!

England

England suffered its coldest April since 1922, almost a century ago.

England’s Central England Temperature (CET) record, one of the longest continuous temperature records in the world and compiled by the UK Met Office, revealed that the early May mean temperature (as reported on the May 7th) was running at 7 degrees C, a whopping 2.8 degrees C BELOW the CET ‘norm’ for the same period. This put England on course to suffer its coldest May since record-keeping began back in 1659.

For added context, the 1659 start of the CET record was during the early-stages of the Maunder Minimum (1645-1715), in a period of reduced temperatures known as the ‘Little Ice Age’. 

Northern England has seen snow fall and settle well into the month of May.

The BBC reported: Snow started falling on Tuesday, May 4, and was deep enough by Wednesday to allow the Lake District Ski Club to open its slopes. Members were “giddy” at the unusual sight of snow-covered mountains in May, according to club president Mike Sweeney. “I haven’t seen snow at this time of year before,”.

Across Europe

Additional heavy snow is predicted to strike, particularly in the Alps, Scandinavia, and the Spanish mountains up to as late as May 24th.

GFS Total Snowfall Prediction (cm) May 10 – May 24.

The Netherlands

Holland’s cold spell, which has been going on for almost two months now, has been severe. The nation as a whole just suffered its coldest April since 1986 a quarter of a century ago where average temperatures finished some 3.2 degrees C below the climatological ‘norm’ of 9.9 degrees C.

April’s historic chill also delivered a total of 10 snow days, which made for the most snow recorded in the Netherlands during the month of April since 1977, almost half a century ago.

And the snow has continued into May, too which is an incredibly rare phenomenon.

In Germany

With an average temperature of just 6 degrees C, we saw Germany’s coldest April since 1977. The country’s average reading finished a significant 3 degrees C below the 1991-2020 climatological ‘norm’.

According to reports, rare May snow is hitting regions such as Potsdam which hasn’t seen snow in the month of May since 1969, more than half a century ago.

Snowfall is also being observed in Berlin — and after a quick ERA5 analysis, it is revealed that in the past 70 years, May snow has only fallen in the German capital on three occasions: in 1991, 1978, and 1970.

P Gosselin reported in Notrickszone.com that, at the midway point through the month Germany is in the grips of one of the seven coldest May months’ since 1881.

And around the world;

Official data from U.S. NOAA agency records summary reveals that new cold temperature records are comfortably outstripping new highs, even in those datasets that ignore the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect.

With the official start of summer is less than 40 days away, an unseasonably cold air mass is currently gripping large areas of the United States, dropping temperatures some 25 degrees below seasonal averages.

As reported by CNN weather, these temperatures are more in line with what you should expect in mid-March, not mid-May.

South Carolina’s capital city of Columbia suffered a historically cold Wednesday.

South Carolina’s capital city of Columbia experienced unprecedented cold with a daytime high in the 50s’ (Fahrenheit). The previous low temperature record for the day has been standing for over 100 years at 66 degrees Farenheit.

Augusta, Georgia, broke it’s daily record cool temperature, one which has stood since 1885, reading 25 degrees below the usual May average.

In Atlanta, the usual mid-May highs of 80 degree heat have been replaced with wintry cold.

Australia

The Daily Mail reported “Stunning Blizzard hits Australian Ski Resorts a MONTH early”.

Back on April 11, substantial snowfall set in over Tasmania’s Cradle Mountain, down to 600 meters altitude.

The resorts of Thredbo and Perisher, for example, are reporting 4 inches of powder, totals that are considered rare for the time of year, and which were reportedly even higher at the top of the runs.

In 2019, the Australian capital Canberra recorded its coldest May day in 20 years.

Round up:

If you have found yourself asking, ‘what happened to spring this year?’ you would not be alone!

Official records are confirming that longstanding temperature and snowfall records are being toppled across the board. Records stretching back hundreds of years to the Little Ice Age in some cases!

While I am cautious when talking about a ‘global temperature’ since I believe it is an extremely difficult, and potentially misleading figure to derive, satellite data is arguably the most representative due to its large spatial coverage.

UAH Satellite Derived Temperature of the Lower Atmosphere

The last couple of years has seen a reduction in overall, average global temperatures.

According to global satellite data, the world’s average temperature has fallen below the level it was at twenty years ago. Technically speaking, the world is colder today than it was when Greta was born.

Just sayin’!

-Tristan