Climate of Europe

An image of the Gulf Stream's path and its related branches

The average number of days per year with precipitation

The average amount of sunshine yearly (hours)

The climate of western Europe is strongly conditioned by the Gulf Stream, which keeps mild air (for the latitude) over Northwestern Europe in the winter months, especially in Ireland, the United Kingdom and coastal Norway. In terms of monthly sunshine averages, much of temperate Europe sees considerably less than the northern United States and eastern Asia.

The climate of Western Europe is milder in comparison to other areas of the same latitude around the globe due to the influence of the Gulf Stream. Western Europe is at the same latitude as parts of Canada and Russia, thus solar insulation is weak much of the year. Mediterranean waters are not as deep as the large oceans, allowing it to become a heat storage tempering winters along its coastlines, but because the Atlantic Ocean is largely influenced by the gulf stream, this effect is reduced when compared to that of the Atlantic waters.[3] The Gulf Stream is nicknamed "Europe's central heating", because it makes Europe's climate warmer and wetter than it would otherwise be.

Compared to areas located in the higher middle latitudes, parts of western Europe have mild winters and higher annual temperatures (though summers are cooler than locations at the same latitude). Berlin, Germany; Calgary, Canada; and Irkutsk, in the Asian part of Russia, lie on around the same latitude; January temperatures in Berlin average around 8 °C (15 °F) higher than those in Calgary (although Calgary sits 1200m higher in altitude), and they are almost 22 °C (40 °F) higher than average temperatures in Irkutsk.[3]

This difference is even larger on the northern part of the continent. The January average in Brønnøysund, Norway,[4] is almost 15 °C warmer than the January average in Nome, Alaska,[5] both towns are situated upwind on the west coast of the continents at 65°N, and as much as 42 °C warmer than the January average in Yakutsk which is actually slightly further south. Further south the oceanic climate of Europe compares thermally to North America, at around 48°N Rennes, France has about an equal average temperature throughout the year to Seattle, Washington, although the latter has drier summers with much wetter winters.[6]

Within mainland Spain, the arid climate appears predominantly in Almería.[7] The desert climate extends to the Andarax and Almanzora river valleys, Alicante and the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park, which are also known for having also a hot desert climate (Köppen: BWh), with a precipitation amount of 156 mm (6.1 in) per year[8] which is reportedly the driest place in Europe.

Difference between high and low temperature records

Most of Europe sees seasonal temperatures consistent with temperate climates in other parts of the world, though summers north of the Mediterranean Sea are cooler than most temperate climates experience in summer (for example summers in the temperate sector of the northern United States are much hotter in summer than Europe). Among the cities with a population over 100,000 people in Europe, the coldest winters are mostly found in Russia, with daily highs in winter averaging 0 °C (32 °F), while the mildest winters in the continent are in southern Portugal, southern Spain, in Sicily (Italy) and southern Greek islands such as Crete, Rhodes, Karpathos and Kasos.

The hottest summers of the continent occur in cities and towns of the hinterland of southern Spain, southern Greece and southern Italy. July average highs in Spain are 36.9 °C (98.4 °F) in Cordoba and 36.0 °C (96.8 °F) in Seville. July highs in Greece average around 36.0 °C (96.8 °F) in Sparta. The highest extreme temperatures have been recorded in Syracuse, Italy, with 48.8 °C (119.8 °F),[9] Athens and Elefsina, Greece, with 48.0 °C (118.4 °F)[10] and inside the southern valleys of the Iberian Peninsula, with towns such as La Rambla, Cordoba (Spain) and Amareleja (Portugal) recording temperatures of 47.6 °C (117.7 °F) [11] and 47.4 °C (117.3 °F)[12] respectively.

The Netherlands has the highest average number of recorded tornadoes per area of any country in the world (more than 20, or 0.0005 per km²), annually), followed by the UK (around 33, or 0.0001 per km²), per year),[13][14] but most are small and cause minor damage. In absolute number of events, ignoring area, the UK experiences more tornadoes than any other European country, excluding waterspouts.[15] Europe uses its own tornado scale, known as the TORRO scale, which ranges from a T0 for extremely weak tornadoes to T11 for the most powerful known tornadoes.[16]

• Arctic oscillation
• North Atlantic oscillation
• Climate change in Europe
  • 2003 European heat wave
  • 2018 European heat wave
• List of European cities by average temperature
• List of cities in Europe by precipitation

• Seager, Richard (July–August 2006). "The Source of Europe's Mild Climate". American Scientist. Vol. 94, no. 4. p. 334. doi:10.1511/2006.60.334. Subhead: "The notion that the Gulf Stream is responsible for keeping Europe anomalously warm turns out to be a myth".{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)