Since yesterday Europe is seeing two very different weather conditions. Across the British Isles, Central Europe and Scandinavia sunny and mild conditions are occurring. Instead, moving south towards the Mediterranean region, rain and strong (sometimes disruptive) winds are observed.
This contrast is due to a broad High set over Scandinavia which is extending a ridge SE across central/E Europe where mild and sunny/dry weather occurs. Meanwhile, over the central Mediterranean (just off Sardinia) a low is trailing showers and thunderstorms across Italy, S France; finally, another weak low just S of Spain is causing rain and cool weather over the Iberian peninsula.
A nice picture of this situation can be seen from the satellite imagery of this afternoon (Figure 1).
Also the temperatures reflect a significant difference between northern and southern Europe (Figure 2). Most of the Mediterranean region sees afternoon temps below 20°C, with some cities not reaching 15°C (i.e. central Spain, N Italy, Bulgaria, Serbia). Moving north instead, many areas see values betwen 17/22°C, with 20°C reached also in S Norway and Sweden. These values are between +5/+10°C above the climatology for this period. Finally, the areas of the continent showing the lowest values are Russia and Lapland, with temperatures just above 0°C (though nothing surprising as here spring has just started).
The next few days will see a change, with the High expanding over most of the continent, with sunny and very warm conditions for many until the weekend.
