http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_8449896
Record warm winter for northern Europe
By SARA SUNDELIUS Associated Press Writer
Article Launched: 03/04/2008 10:18:24 AM PST
STOCKHOLM, Sweden-Icebreakers sit idle in ****ts. Insects crawl out of
forest
hideouts. Daffodils sprout up from green lawns.
Winter ended before it started in Europe's north, where record-high
temperatures have people wondering whether it's a fluke or an ominous sign
of a warming world.
"It's the warmest winter ever" recorded, said John Ekwall of the Swedish
Meteorological and Hydrological Institute.
In December, January and February, the average temperature in Stockholm
was
36 degrees-the highest on record since record-keeping began in 1756.
Record winter highs were set at 12 other locations across the country,
according to the national weather service, SMHI.
Across the Baltic Sea, Latvia and most of Finland re****ted the warmest
winter since 1925.
Latvia saw an average temperature of about 33 degrees, nine degrees above
normal, according to the national meteorological agency.
Southern Finland had only 20 days of snow, compared to 70 days normally,
while neighboring Estonia had to cancel a popular cross-country ski
marathon
in the southern city of Tartu in early February.
"I don't remember winter like this. We had almost no snow at all in
February," said Merike Merilain, chief weather forecaster at Estonia's
meteorological institute, EMHI.
"It's been emotionally very stressful, especially to many older people,
that
it's dark and rainy all the time," she added.
In Norway, the average temperature
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in February was the second highest on record, 8 degrees above normal.
Experts are careful not to blame global warming, noting that a warm winter
could be followed by a cold one.
The Finnish Meteorological Institute said the mild winter partly resulted
from strong southerly and westerly air currents caused by exceptionally
warm
surface temperatures of the Atlantic.
Nevertheless, the higher temperatures have only fueled concern that
greenhouse g***** are changing the climate, especially in the sensitive
Arctic region.
"When we were young, back in the '80s, then winter existed," said Ronny
Ahlstedt, 28, who works at an outdoor ice-skating rink in downtown
Stockholm. "We are contributing to this warm weather by letting out all
this
pollution in the air."
In areas normally covered in snow and ice, spring-like temperatures have
brought premature sightings of flowers such as winter aconite, snowdrops,
wood anemone, daffodils and coltsfoot.
Migratory birds have returned from southern latitudes prematurely. In
southern Sweden, they never left.
"The birds that have stayed are robins and chaffinches," said biologist
Lars-Ake Janzon at the Swedish Museum of Natural History. "They stayed
because there hasn't been any snow."
The warm weather also has stirred life inside the vast forests of the
Nordic
and Baltic countries, where insects such as ants and ticks emerged early
from winter shelter.
For businesses, the mild weather has been a mixed blessing.
In Lithuania, logging companies say many dirt roads were impassable
because
they were thick with mud instead of frozen, leaving timber rotting in the
damp forests.
The express ferries between Tallinn and Helsinki, however, have benefited
from the lack of ice in the Gulf of Finland. Normally they are unable to
operate from late December to April, but this year some of them have been
running almost without interruptions.
Both Finland and Sweden have left most of their icebreakers in ****t.
Finland's coasts are clear of ice up to 350 miles north of Helsinki, said
Jouni Vainio from the Finnish Institute of Marine Research. "It's most
unusual because now the whole sea should be frozen along the Finnish
coast."
Railway traffic is also being helped by the warmth. More than 90 percent
of
all trains this winter have been on time or less than five minutes late,
according to the Finnish state railway, VR.
"Hard frosts and heavy blizzards have always been a bane of rail traffic.
This winter has been punctuated by their absence," VR spokesman Herbert
Mannerstrom said.
For winter s****ts enthusiasts, the green winter has been a nightmare.
Small
ski resorts around Stockholm never opened, and skating enthusiasts waited
in
vain for ice to form on the waterways surrounding the Swedish capital.
"There's not one millimeter of ice," said Anders Tysk, organizer of the
annual Vikingarannet ice-skating race on Lake Malaren. After postponing
the
race several weekends, he had to tell 500 registered participants on
Monday
there would be no race this year.
"It's the first time we've canceled since we introduced flexible dates in
2003," he said.
While Europe's north has been unseasonably warm, the west has been sunny
and
dry.
The French weather service, Meteo France, announced in a preliminary
re****t
Friday that France had not had such a sunny winter since 1950.
In ****tugal, rainfall from September to January was the lowest for 91
years.
The cold, however, is making a late comeback in some areas.
All of Finland is blanketed in snow, and forecasts predict at least
another
week of wintry weather with heavy blizzards and frost. That news delighted
a
group of six-grade boys traveling by train for a snowboard outing Tuesday
with their teacher in Helsinki.
"It's been a long time coming. It's only the second time this year that
we've been able to get out there," said 13-year-old Timo, who only gave
his
first name.
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