Temperatures in Western Europe have gone crazy over the past few days. A week ago Madrid was hit by a rare snowfall, and in Germany the temperature plunged below minus 30C (minus 22F) and parts of the River Elbe froze. But temperatures have risen again as the persistent high-pressure system that brought the freeze was shunted away by a high-altitude jet stream. This opened the way for the return of milder, wet and windy weather blowing off the Atlantic. However, colder conditions are now returning, and ski slopes across Europe are being replenished by fresh snowfalls.

Brutal Arctic storms plunged much of Canada and the US into a deep freeze this week. The northeast US has been hit especially hard, but the bitter cold may ease in Washington DC by Tuesday for the President-elect’s Inauguration Day. However, it felt like summer over California as a heat wave broke January temperature records. Santa Ana winds swept down from the mountains, sending temperatures soaring to 29C (85F) in Los Angeles. The region is desperate for rain after two years of intense drought, which may lead to water rationing later this year if supplies do not improve.

In the Philippines unseasonable heavy rains caused floods and landslides that killed 20 people and led 300,000 to evacuate their homes. Fiji declared a state of emergency after relentless downpours over five days dropped up to 91cm (36in) rain as tropical depressions drove in from the South Pacific. Floods left the country’s economically vital sugar crop devastated.

Paul Simons
The Times (UK)
January 17, 2009