The long duration of the cold period, its relatively late onset and the extent of the cold area are
exceptional, but not unique. Similar cold spells occurred several times during the past
decades. In western and central Europe, for instance, far more severe cold waves occurred in
the past in respect to both intensity and duration, e.g. in the 1940s, in February 1929 and
1956, January/February 1963 and the mid-1980s, but also in earlier time (Fig. 17-20).
However,
such cold waves were rare in recent years.
Several places in Europe did not see
lower temperatures than in February 2012 for more than 25 years.
France did not see such a
cold spell since January 1987. Zurich in Switzerland and places in northern Italy were last
colder in January 1985; other stations in northern Italy even had their lowest minima since
1956. Cold waves have become particularly rare since the mid-20th century at least in
Switzerland, and since the 1990s also in whole western and central Europe, compared to the
previous 100 years. There were long cold spells with deep snow covers in recent winters too,
e.g. in January and December 2010, but the intensity was lower.
The cold wave in February
2012 was one of the 10 most intense of such events in Zurich since 1864 and among the 5
most severe in France since 1947.
Regarding only the 10-day period 01-10 February, it was
the coldest such period in Hamburg (Germany) since 1947.
Figure
Segnalibri