European weather reports and chat

[southathens]

Hello all!

I am starting this thread mainly to follow up with the idea of some members who wanted to have a dedicated European weather thread focusing mainly on extreme weather from around the continent but also on  interesting daily observations from various met stations!

I will be reporting mostly on Greek weather and Greek met stations 

To start off yesterday was Easter Day for Greece and the maximum T in the country was 30.6C in the meteorological station of the National Observatory of Athens in Lindos, Rhodes 

[southathens]

Greece's max today was 30.8C in Lefkohori NOA station 

Cyprus also got pretty hot today with Nicosia registering 31.9C according to the station of the National Observatory of Athens.

Edited April 25, 2022 by Manos33

[southathens]

Greece's max today 30.4C in Sindos NOA station!

Come on guys! I feel I am the only one interested in extreme weather.

Do join us by reporting the extremes from your countries!!!

Edited April 26, 2022 by Manos33

[Victor G.]

@Manos33, should we post daily (current) observations, or can we post also observations from the past?

I mean, do we want to start a topic for now or for the past?

[southathens]

It can be either. That's why I titled it ''chat'' also. So we will be free to chat current/past weather observations and noteworthy weather events in Europe!

[UK_Palms]

I suppose we better talk about the tornado in Germany on Friday. It hit the towns of Lippstadt and Paderborn and appears to have been an F2, or possibly even an F3 on the scale. Looking at the damage to infrastructure, I can comfortably say it was not as bad as the Czechia tornado, which I posted about last summer. That one was an F3 or F4 even. The winds were probably 30mph stronger than this one in Germany. However, with more than 40 injured and a person killed in this event, it was still a pretty severe tornado by European standards and the most severe in 10-11 months, since that big Czechia one last year.

 

Look at the girth on that funnel cloud!... 

 

Edited May 21, 2022 by UK_Palms

[GottmitAlex]

Prayers go out!

[southathens]

Greece today up to 37.4C in Livadia NOA station...and its gonna get hotter the next few days

[southathens]

Greece's max today was 38.1C in the Athens suburb of Filothei from the Davis WeatherLink station. 

Lindos NOA station in Rhodes also registered an amazing minimum for May showing 27.2C

Edited May 26, 2022 by Manos33

[southathens]

Max so far today in Greece is registering in Crete with 38.3C in Sisi NOA station. 

Lindos NOA station recorded a minimum of 28.3C on the 27th which is rather stunning for May.

[southathens]

Almost 40C today in Greece with Dion NOA station registering 39.9C

That's hot for early June even by Greece's standards. 

Edited June 5, 2022 by Manos33

[southathens]

Greece's max T yesterday at 42.4C in K.Tithorea HNMS station. 

It's been really hot in Greece the past few days.

[southathens]

Hello all!

For those of you who are interested in extreme weather in Europe I want to inform you that back in Greece we have discovered a value of 48.8°C and a mind blowing 40.2°C minimum that were registered with a Davis fan aspirated met station (generally really reliable stations) belonging to the private WeatherLink Network. The values were recorded in last year's extreme August heatwave in South Crete in Greece. A well known hot spot of the country during foehn events. 

The Greek met community is trying establish its reliability with a very interesting debate that might potentially lead Greece's met office to take a closer look and if it proves reliable to communicate it to the World Meteorological Organization as it would beat Europe's current official record again recorded in Greece back in 1977.

You can follow the thread below. It's in Greek obviously but you can use google translate if you are really interested.

https://weather-club.gr/main/index.php?/topic/438-488°c-σε-davis-στη-νότια-κρήτη-382021-τι-πιστεύετε/

Edited June 28, 2022 by Manos33

[southathens]

46.3C yesterday in Lousa, Portugal which is Europe's highest so far this year.

Next week there is a chance the UK might hit 40C for the first time in its history. 

Edited July 14, 2022 by Manos33

[Foxpalms]

 

7 hours ago, Manos33 said:

46.3C yesterday in Lousa, Portugal which is Europe's highest so far this year.

Next week there is a chance the UK might hit 40C for the first time in its history. 

Definitely keep a close eye on the temps for London Heathrow Northolt and Kew gardens on Monday and Tuesday some GFS models showing up to 43c!

Edited July 15, 2022 by Foxpalms

[bubba]

As it relates to High temperatures throughout the hot areas of Europe, my question is what are the “feel like” temperature‘s when incorporating dewpoint. For example, in Florida, Texas and Louisiana, it is very common to experience relatively low high temperatures but when considered with the dewpoint, the “feel like” temperature‘s dwarf our desert region high temperatures.

To extrapolate, a high temperature of 98°F experienced in interior Florida yesterday had a feel like temperature of 135°F. Correspondingly, the high temperature in Death Valley/ Furnace Creek was 120°F but the feel like was 118°F. Although the listed high temperature in the United States was for Death Valley, numerous regions throughout Florida, Texas and Louisiana felt much hotter.

I know areas like Quatar experience similar extremely high “feel like”temperatures because of the dewpoint application. Are there any regions in Mediterranean Europe that experience these high temperatures described when the dewpoint is added and the “feel like”is considered?

[Foxpalms]

10 hours ago, bubba said:

As it relates to High temperatures throughout the hot areas of Europe, my question is what are the “feel like” temperature‘s when incorporating dewpoint. For example, in Florida, Texas and Louisiana, it is very common to experience relatively low high temperatures but when considered with the dewpoint, the “feel like” temperature‘s dwarf our desert region high temperatures.

To extrapolate, a high temperature of 98°F experienced in interior Florida yesterday had a feel like temperature of 135°F. Correspondingly, the high temperature in Death Valley/ Furnace Creek was 120°F but the feel like was 118°F. Although the listed high temperature in the United States was for Death Valley, numerous regions throughout Florida, Texas and Louisiana felt much hotter.

I know areas like Quatar experience similar extremely high “feel like”temperatures because of the dewpoint application. Are there any regions in Mediterranean Europe that experience these high temperatures described when the dewpoint is added and the “feel like”is considered?

I think the majority of southern Europe is low humidity in the inland areas and low humidity during the day and high humidity during night for coastal areas. The Canary Islands are very humid but don't see extremely warm temperatures areas of southern france and Barcelona because of the mountains trapping in the sea air can sometimes be very hot and humid during a warm period there. But when we get very  hot weather in Europe alot of the air comes up from the Sahara dessert for example London is 41c on Monday but the humidity is only 14% since the air is coming from the Sahara then over Portugal then to the UK.

[southathens]

Pinhao in Portugal registered 47.0C few days ago. Europe's highest this year.

The UK is going to be a very interesting one to follow Monday and Tuesday. If cloud coverage helps then some areas might just pull of a 40C locally. The record minimum as well could fall.

The UK record is 38.7C in Cambridge in 2019 and the highest min is 23.9C in Brighton in 1990. Both of these can potentially be smashed. 

[bubba]

So you really do not have areas of high heat and humidity anywhere in The Mediterranean portion of Europe?

[Foxpalms]

2 hours ago, Manos33 said:

Pinhao in Portugal registered 47.0C few days ago. Europe's highest this year.

The UK is going to be a very interesting one to follow Monday and Tuesday. If cloud coverage helps then some areas might just pull of a 40C locally. The record minimum as well could fall.

The UK record is 38.7C in Cambridge in 2019 and the highest min is 23.9C in Brighton in 1990. Both of these can potentially be smashed. 

Also the metoffice only record there temps in parks and airports so in the London suburbs and city it's always hotter than the forecast on Monday and Tuesday compare the temps on the forecast to wunderground and the wunderground temps are always slightly warmer.

[Foxpalms]

16 minutes ago, bubba said:

So you really do not have areas of high heat and humidity anywhere in The Mediterranean portion of Europe?

Not really but you might see feel likes between 100-110 on hot days in summer where the temperature is around 95-100 but I don't think there is anywhere that is constantly hot and humid

[oasis371]

I see the biggest differences in MUCH higher, consistent humidity levels in the Northeast of the US. (And don't forget, simple H2O in the atmosphere (humidity), is an extremely potent greenhouse "gas".   We are currently in moderate drought in NJ; these "flash droughts" develop over a period of a few weeks and may follow record rainfalls.  I am in NJ..., but this sudden drought is worse in Maine and much of eastern New England.  It's been a pattern lately I've noticed from eastern Long Island north..., very arid conditions.  This has become the new normal, and regardless of the drought..., it's still MUCH more humid than in the past.  I used to be able to grow Mediterranean herbs like rosemary and lavender but the humidly means lots and lots of issues.  And despite being 700 miles south of London, London will still be seeing higher temperatures..., that is crazy.  Mind you, our highs will continue in the mid and upper 90's, while it seems much of northern Europe will cool a bit.  

[Foxpalms]

Your summer is quite a bit warmer we only average around 24-25c in July but it's low humidity in the day (25-35%) and high at night (60-80%) probably the reason washingtonia filifera does so well the reason the low humidity in the day. The reason we can get hotter is because we can get air coming straight up from the Sahara desert which is what's happening now it's already 94.5f and 25% humidity at 12 but New York on average has warmer summers but over the last 10 years the summers have been getting warmer and warmer here average high so far for July is 27c in London this year. I think another thing that helps Mediterranean plants here is the winters with an average high of 50f and low of 42f with a lowest temperature of the year for central London usually  in the low 30s or high 20s while new York can get lots of prolonged cold. We should cool down to after the heat wave to high 70s with a couple days in the 80s. New York also gets  20 inches more rainfall than London per year but saying that I would happily take some of your rain we have only had 5 inches so far this year!

Edited July 18, 2022 by Foxpalms

[oasis371]

"We have only had 5 inches so far this year!"

Okay, another difference in East (Europe) vs. West (Eastern North America)..., I think we are getting a good 3+ inches of rain..., THIS afternoon! That's the new norm..., flash drought alternating with dangerous, flooding rains.  I used to enjoy the summer and warmth, now, I HATE it.  Right now, Alaska is looking better and better to me.

[Foxpalms]

New UK hottest official temperature is 40.3c! Wunderground was showing hotter temperatures in the West London suburbs, it's a shame there aren't any stations there  since the official ones are only in the airports and parks.  London Heathrow and st James park hit 40.2c officially or 104.36f the humdity was 14%

Edited July 19, 2022 by Foxpalms

[Silas_Sancona]

18 minutes ago, Foxpalms said:

New UK hottest official temperature is 40.3c! Wunderground was showing hotter temperatures in the West London suburbs, it's a shame there aren't any stations there  since the official ones are only in the airports and parks.  London Heathrow and st James park hit 40.2c officially or 104.36f the humdity was 14%

Here at least, this is why i trust  weather conditions from nearby neighborhood stations vs. the so- called " official " stations either 4-6 miles away ( Would be a smaller, local Municipal Airport ), or the recording station  a majority of national media would refer to the most ..Sky Harbor Airport in downtown Phoenix  ..which is roughly 15+ miles away, and is influenced by downtown itself, and a nearby group of hills directly to Airport's the southwest..  Same hills don't influence the weather much where i'm located, and the downtown corridor of Phoenix certainly doesn't at all.  Airport also sits a few hundred feet lower than my part of the overall valley.

Rainfall so far this summer is a great example.. Sky harbor has missed out on most of the " decent " totals ( -by desert standards ) so far  while other parts of town not terribly far away have seen upwards of an inch -or more- so far.. Not quite that much at the house so far, but have had much more than Sky Harbor to this point in the season..

  Unfortunately, when it comes to the official rainfall total for this year's monsoon season ( ..or total yearly rainfall ) whatever Sky Harbor receives is what is counted  ..even if rainfall - for the season or year-  is much higher where i'm located, or in a nearby part of my side of town.

Know some may find this harsh, but.. unless you're located close to one, anyone putting blind faith into data from so- called  " official " weather station data  is pretty dumb honestly.. 

If i wanted to find out what the longer term temp trends might be in my area of town, i'd look at collecting whatever data i could from those neighborhood weather stations that are closest to me... using the closest official station as a casual reference for whatever trend i'd noted from near-er sources. Not the other way around.

[Foxpalms]

@Silas_SanconaWith london all the stations are at airports or huge parks the metoffice says the stations need to be in an exposed spot in the shade or a Stevenson screen. What does greenery do cools the air temperature around it not just the temperature near the ground so a huge parks is going to always be cooler than even a green lawn in a garden surrounded by hundreds of thousands of houses the air temperature will be higher but of course being further inland and other things can effect the temperature but even the airports in the UK have quite alot of greenery and so this is why the suburbs of hewthrow and Northolt always show the hottest temperature hotter in fact than the 40.3c temperature further north since the suburbs even 1 mile away surrounded by houses will raise the air temperature slightly more even if it's not near concrete or near the a houses.  The coldest night of the year is a perfect example of this the temperature may go down to -2 or -3c in a huge park like kew in the winter but in the city it's only -1c some places can seven stay as warm as 0c. If a weather station in London (the suburbs and city) is in an exposed spot not next to the houses or any concrete,stone or brick walls and is above  grass and about 6-7ft above the ground in a Stevenson screen then im almost certain the temperature is accurate of course there can be some wunderground stations which are positioned badly and read inaccurate temperatures but if the majority in an area are all reading 1-3f higher than the record I have no doubt that's true hottest area in the UK (Heathrow and Northolt suburbs not the airports) same is true  in central London during the winter.  And I definitely trust my weather station temperature more than the forecast for London especially when all the wunderground stations nearby are more or less the same. when it forecasted -3c for London on Jan 6th I recorded just under -1c about 30f.1f  if the official temperatures readings for London taken who knows where on that night probably at some large park or airport miles away has shown -3c would an archontophoenix cunninghamiana take -3c without any damage I doubt it which is why I also trust wunderground readings more especially if the stations are showing similar temps.

Edited July 20, 2022 by Foxpalms

[Silas_Sancona]

3 minutes ago, Foxpalms said:

@Silas_SanconaWith london all the stations are at airports or huge parks the metoffice says the stations need to be in an exposed spot in the shade or a Stevenson screen. What does greenery do cools the air temperature around it not just the temperature near the ground so a huge parks is going to always be cooler than even a green lawn in a garden surrounded by hundreds of thousands of houses the air temperature will be higher but of course being further inland and other things can effect the temperature but even the airports in the UK have quite alot of greenery and so this is why the suburbs of hewthrow and Northolt always show the hottest temperature hotter in fact than the 40.3c temperature further north since the suburbs even 1 mile away surrounded by houses will raise the air temperature slightly more even if it's not near concrete or near the a houses.  The coldest night of the year is a perfect example of this the temperature may go down to -2 or -3c in a huge park like kew in the winter but in the city it's only -1c some places can seven stay as warm as 0c.

If a weather station in London (the suburbs and city) is in an exposed spot not next to the houses or any concrete,stone or brick walls and is above  grass and about 6-7ft above the ground in a Stevenson screen then the true Im almost certain the temperature is accurate of course there can be some wunderground stations which are positioned badly and read inaccurate temperatures but if the majority in an area are all reading 1-3f higher than the record I have no doubt that's true hottest area in the UK (Heathrow and Northolt suburbs not the airports)

same is true  in central London during the winter.  And I definitely trust my weather station temperature more than the forecast for London especially when all the wunderground stations nearby are more or less the same. when it forecasted -3c for London on Jan 6th I recorded just under -1c about 30f.1f  if the official temperatures readings for London taken who knows where on that night probably at some large park or airport miles away has shown -3c would an archontophoenix cunninghamiana take -3c without any damage I doubt it which is why I also trust wunderground readings more especially if the stations are showing similar temps.

All our " official " stations the Nat. Wx Service uses are located at Airports. Very few have a ton of greenery, here at least haha.. 

Agree, as mentioned, while you can put some degree of faith in the readings taken at the airports (  Don't think any official stations are placed in parks here ), trust neighborhood readings much more. Buildings/ concrete, greenery may influence those readings a bit but.. Simply put, i don't live on the tarmack of an airport.. So the temperature they record is what someone there experiences .. not me, haha

....and yes, part of trusting neighborhood data is doing the homework to tease out any WX underground stations that look " off ' ..compared to the majority of others that are within the range of a station(s) you might reference often / are closest to where you are located..  Cuz' yes, lol no doubt some aren't set up or work correctly.


Your example of readings on a chilly morning are a great example of this..  While Sky Harbor is normally a few deg warmer than my location / many areas on this side of town,  I'm often warmer than the reading on such a morning from the Muni. Airport 5 miles away ..or another Regional Airport 12 miles away to my east can be ( Mesa Gateway ).. 

Looking on a map, Mesa Gateway sits w/ lots of open desert surrounding it, vs. being surrounded by dense development ( homes, businesses, etc ) < yet at least.. That whole side of town is quickly being developed >.  On that side of the valley, cold air often drains into the flatter areas, off the hills to the east.  Where i'm at, there is open desert a few miles to my south, but, elevation is slightly lower out there and there's plenty of development between to provide some degree of temperature moderation if a cold airmass gets nudged into town from the south. I may only hit 30F while a house located closer to that open desert bottoms out at 27 or 28Fon a really chilly morning.


 

[UK_Palms]

So the UK temperature record stands at 40.3C / 104F now with multiple stations exceeding 40C for the first time. 4 of the 6 hottest 'official' Met Office stations were in London. It has been an exceptionally warm and dry summer across western Europe this year.

 

These are PWS station temps in northern England even...

 

Multiple records set for highest all time temperature in the UK, England, Wales & Scotland, as well as record high daily minimum for UK, England, Wales & Scotland.

 

Here is the current situation in the London desert... less rainfall than Los Angeles going back to November. Driest place in Europe? @Alicante @gurugu @Manos33 @Phoenikakias

 

All the leaves and foliage is scorched and dying back from severe drought...

 

The wildfires have been brutal and raging every day since March. The worst was in Wennington, London on Tuesday during the 40C day however. Entire streets were destroyed. 

 

 

The problems are only just beginning here. By 1st August I would have only had 1.4 inches of rain over the past 5 months here. We're dealing with full blown warm-summer Med (Csb) conditions this year, just as we had in summer 2018 as well. Summer 2019 and 2020 also qualified as warm-summer Med here.

 

Edited July 24, 2022 by UK_Palms

[Phoenikakias]

8 hours ago, UK_Palms said:

So the UK temperature record stands at 40.3C / 104F now with multiple stations exceeding 40C for the first time. 4 of the 6 hottest 'official' Met Office stations were in London. It has been an exceptionally warm and dry summer across western Europe this year.

 

These are PWS station temps in northern England even...

 

Multiple records set for highest all time temperature in the UK, England, Wales & Scotland, as well as record high daily minimum for UK, England, Wales & Scotland.

 

Here is the current situation in the London desert... less rainfall than Los Angeles going back to November. Driest place in Europe? @Alicante @gurugu @Manos33 @Phoenikakias

 

All the leaves and foliage is scorched and dying back from severe drought...

 

The wildfires have been brutal and raging every day since March. The worst was in Wennington, London on Tuesday during the 40C day however. Entire streets were destroyed. 

 

 

The problems are only just beginning here. By 1st August I would have only had 1.4 inches of rain over the past 5 months here. We're dealing with full blown warm-summer Med (Csb) conditions this year, just as we had in summer 2018 as well. Summer 2019 and 2020 also qualified as warm-summer Med here.

 

Yes lack of water is always the greatest concern. Let your plants profit as much as possible from the hot weather, because one day you will very probably swing back to other extreme, this is how nature usually works (unfortunately).I read that in York on a recent day max  temp reached only a miserable 15 C.  This would be a sci-fi plot in a genuine south European country this time of the year or simply the Doomsday would be near lol!

[Foxpalms]

@Phoenikakiasluckily London is never that cold unlike up north average temp for the month of July is 28c so far this year winters here though are only 9-10c high with a low of 5c in central London this year only went to -0.9c for me just cool long winters before it warms up in spring not any extreme cold in central London. Every month has been above average this year. How much rainfall has Athens Greece had this year? we are only on 4.9 inches and almost all of that is from winter and spring. I couldn't imagine a daily max of 15c in July in London considering the average low this month is 17c for central London this year looks like it will be warm in August too.

[southathens]

16 hours ago, Foxpalms said:

 How much rainfall has Athens Greece had this year? 

It's been a dry year for Athens as well.  Especially the Athens Riviera. So far south Athens suburbs are around 120mm (4.7 inches)

[southathens]

A few days ago the Spanish Met Office announced Spain's new national record of highest T at 47.6C set last year in the wider area of Cordoba. Apparently the data was retrieved only recently from the datalogger of the station hence it is now published. Mind you that we are talking about a passive automatic met station.

In the meantime in Greece an overlooked value of 47.5C  has surfaced. It was set on the 26th of June 2007 in Aspropyrgos which is located next to Elefsina in the Athens Metropolitan area. Elefsina btw is the current official European record holder with 48.0C in 1977.  I remind you that 47.5C was also registered that day in Nea Filadelfeia, a different area of Athens this time.  What is amazing about this value in Aspropyrgos is that it was taken with a fan aspirated official meteorological station belonging to the Municipality of Aspropyrgos.

This effectively makes the Thriasian Plain ( where both Elefsina and Aspropyrgos are located) the only area in Europe to confirm officially two times values around the 48.0C mark over the span of 30 years. This is due to the very complex topography of West Athens and its susceptibility to foehn winds. 

 

 

 

Edited August 4, 2022 by Manos33

[southathens]

Next weekend and onwards a new heatwave is expected in Iberia

[southathens]

Meanwhile most of Greece continues to experience a very dry year so far. Well below averages so far into the year in many areas of the country

[southathens]

Also some models suggest very hot weather for the Balkans and Greece after the 15th of August

[southathens]

London is also expected to heat up significantly over the next weekend. Some models have it as high as 34C-35C

[southathens]

Wow actually the latest GFS run is suggesting locally up to 37C in some areas of SE England!

[southathens]

Could the 2022 summer rival the 1976 summer in the UK?

I think it will be pretty close

[southathens]

Also the drought in England is pretty significant. So far 2022 is one of the driest years in history for SE England...