“Europe is burning!” wrote Arnulf Øverland in the classic poem “You must not sleep”.
Today there is little risk of that – and for many it will probably be tempting to stay under the covers. According to the Scandinavian, British and Dutch media, it will be bitterly cold in many places in the north-west of the continent today and throughout the week.
Already on Monday, Britain’s meteorological authority, the Met Office, issued a yellow warning for snow and ice in the middle of the country, large parts of Wales and south-eastern areas of England – including London. It wrote Sky News.
Warnings have also been issued for North East England, Northern Ireland and Scotland. In parts of Scotland, 30 centimeters of snow is expected to fall during the day.
Met here – then it happened
– Exceptionally tough weather
According to Met Office website ice on the ground, “severely cold weather” and heavy snowfall “with a 90 per cent probability” will affect parts of England between Monday and Thursday this week.
– The weather can increase the health risk for vulnerable patients and disrupt service deliveries, the notice says.
British tabloid newspaper The Daily Mail writes that the temperature is expected to drop to minus 15 degrees Celsius in parts of the country.
In Denmark, it is expected that large parts of the country will be affected on Tuesday by “exceptionally severe weather, which includes a cocktail of blizzards and storm-force gusts”, writes Danish TV 2.
– Nothing left
Very troubled
According to the Danish weather forecaster Peter Tanev, the Danes face a “wild everyday life”.
– It will be extreme weather with blizzards to the north and gusts of gale-force winds to the south, he says, according to the channel’s website.
According to Danish TV 2 North several schools will be closed throughout the day.
Danish BT writes that Denmark’s Meteorological Institute (DMI) recommends those who can not be too early for work.
– We must expect that when we get up tomorrow (Tuesday, editor’s note) the morning commuters will be greatly affected by snowfall and blowing snow. Those who commute last in the morning will probably get away the cheapest. So it might pay to wait a little before driving off, says a DMI press officer to the newspaper on Monday evening.
It is North Jutland and Central Jutland that will be hardest hit by snowfall, writes BT further.
– Tomorrow evening or afternoon, when it is over, it may locally have fallen between 15 and 40 centimeters in the hardest hit areas, says DMI’s press officer.
– Not brain surgery
In Sweden, SMHI (Sveriges meteorologiska och hydrologiska institutt) has issued both yellow and orange warnings for Tuesday and Wednesday. Southern parts of the country will be hit the hardest, according to The evening paper.
The police in Södermanland have issued a checklist which they ask the public to follow to avoid accidents on slippery roads. Among other things, they ask motorists to remember to keep their distance on the road.
Johnny Gustavsson, spokesperson for the police, is clear to Aftonbladet.
– You have to look at the surface when you go out. How does it feel? If you have to scrape the window, it might be slippery on the roads. Then you have to adapt. What the hell, it’s not brain surgery. Keep your distance, for the south, he says to the newspaper.
It will also be cool in the Netherlands, with an expected snowfall of up to five centimetres, according to the report The Telegraph.
Internal washing
– Rare visit
On the night of Thursday, Northern Norway will receive a “rare visit from afar”. It reports Meteorological Institute.
A depression that formed between Hawaii and Japan last week is heading north, and the result will be cold weather and more snow. A “rare visit from afar”, according to the meteorologists.
Meteorologist on duty Siri Wiberg explains the rare visit by a sudden warming of the air in the atmosphere.
– It makes it quite cold down here, she says.
– The rapid heating in the nuclear sphere breaks down the usual weather pattern, and gives a slightly unusual weather pattern.
The low pressure has, among other things, an unusual path, and will arrive in northern Norway via the North Pole.
– Stratospheric warming happens maybe once a year, or less often, so it is not entirely unusual. And that is often the reason when we have a cold winter, explains Wiberg.
And it will be cold over large parts of the country in the coming period.
