Heat record in Europe: Hottest April night on record

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Europe had a record night.

In Rethymnon on the island of Crete, the temperature was 29.3 degrees, the coldest.

– In a warmer world, we will see much more heat records than cold records, says meteorologist Lasse Rydqvist.

Tuesday night was warmer than a typical July night in the Greek city of Rethymnon.

The minimum temperature of 29.3 degrees is a new April record for the whole of Europe.

Meanwhile, it is very cold elsewhere on our continent. Italy had weather in January. In Sweden, many people may have to opt for a down jacket again this weekend.

-We have a real cold air race down to the Mediterranean. Even in southern Spain, France and Italy, cold air has moved in, says Lasse Rydqvist, a meteorologist at Clart.

This is because the jet stream settled into a “bend” all the way down to the Mediterranean Sea. Low pressure then formed pulling warm air from northeastern Africa into Greece.

At the same time warm air was prevented from reaching Europe.

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Record after record breaking

Heat records have become an increasingly common feature in the news.

March 2024 was the warmest month recorded on Earth so far, according to the European Union's Copernicus climate service. This was the tenth consecutive record month.

In Europe, a record number of days of “severe heat stress” were recorded last year. It is also the continent that is warming the fastest.

We can count on significantly more thermal records in the future, while cold records will become rarer, says Lasse Rydqvist.

This year, global warming has also been exacerbated by a weather phenomenon Boy.

The reality of climate change accelerating is that we are now experiencing record months and years – despite the fact that we have seen stronger El Niños in the past. What we have now is much weaker than what we had in 2016, Lasse Rydqvist says.