While the days are growing longer and meteorological spring is just a couple of weeks away, Romania remains firmly in the grip of winter.
A powerful storm brought blizzards and heavy snowfall across much of the south-east of the country, with the capital, Bucharest, receiving 40cm of snow – far exceeding the February average of 11cm.
Public transport was severely disrupted: international airports closed and trains were delayed by up to six hours. Motorway traffic was also disrupted and a number of main routes into Bucharest were shut because of snow. The situation was exacerbated as hundreds of trees and numerous power lines collapsed under the weight of the snowfall, leaving about 200,000 households without electricity.
Meanwhile, in parts of France, the persistently wet winter that has affected much of western Europe continued. Storm Pedro followed hot on the heels of Storm Nils, exacerbating existing flooding.
Storm Nils killed two people last week through a combination of strong winds and severe flooding; Storm Pedro arrived on Thursday across the south-west of the country. While Pedro was less potent than some in recent weeks, it still brought wind gusts of over 70mph and another 50mm of rain in some places.
This rainfall in isolation would not usually cause disruption, but France is in the midst of a record-breaking wet spell, so rivers cannot take more water. Soil moisture is at its highest recorded since measurements began in 1959, with orange or red flood alerts – the top two on the scale – issued for more than 30 consecutive days. Relief is expected next week as high pressure builds, which should halt most rainfall for at least the next few days for the worst-affected areas.
Finally, earlier this week in much of the central and eastern US temperatures were 10-15C above normal for the time of year, giving millions of people an early taste of spring. In Chicago, Illinois, temperatures soared above 18C on Monday. High temperatures, dry conditions and gusty winds fanned fast-moving wildfires in parts of Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma, burning tens of thousands of acres of land.
In Pueblo, Colorado, this week, wind gusts of over 60mph caused a 30-vehicle pile-up, killing five people. The winds caused “brown out” conditions, kicking up dust and dirt and dramatically reducing visibility.
