Seasonal Climate Outlooks for Europe – January 2026

The document reports that Europe experienced its joint-fourth warmest December on record in 2025, with temperatures 1.99°C above the 1991-2020 mean. For the spring of 2026 (March-May), forecasts project warmer-than-average temperatures across the continent, with the highest anomalies in northeastern Europe, and generally weakly positive precipitation anomalies.

• December 2025 was the joint-fourth warmest December on record for Europe, with temperatures averaging 1.99°C above the 1991-2020 mean. Record-high anomalies were observed in the Alpine region, southern Scandinavia, northern UK, and much of eastern Europe, while most of the continent saw temperatures significantly above normal except for northernmost Fennoscandia and parts of Italy.
• Precipitation in December 2025 was drier than normal for eastern and central Europe, whereas the UK, Fennoscandia, and the Iberian peninsula experienced significant positive anomalies.
• Seasonal forecasts for March-May 2026 project Europe to be warmer than average, with temperature anomalies ranging from 0.75°C in western Europe to 1.5°C in northeastern and eastern Europe. Total precipitation is expected to show weakly positive anomalies up to +10% for most of Europe, though southern and western areas may see slightly negative anomalies up to -10%.
• Soil moisture projections for the March-May 2026 period indicate positive anomalies for southwestern Russia and the Balkans, while weakly negative anomalies are expected for Turkey, Spain, and parts of central Europe.

APA

Hankus, A. (2026). Seasonal Climate Outlooks for Europe – January 2026. Climate Strategies. https://climatestrategies.org/seasonal-climate-outlooks-for-europe-january-2026/

Chicago

Hankus, Adela. Seasonal Climate Outlooks for Europe – January 2026. Climate Strategies, 2026. https://climatestrategies.org/seasonal-climate-outlooks-for-europe-january-2026/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Hankus |first1=Adela |title=Seasonal Climate Outlooks for Europe – January 2026 |publisher=Climate Strategies |date=2 February 2026 |url=https://climatestrategies.org/seasonal-climate-outlooks-for-europe-january-2026/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{hankus2026seasonal, author = {Hankus, Adela}, title = {{Seasonal Climate Outlooks for Europe – January 2026}}, institution = {Climate Strategies}, year = {2026}, month = feb, url = {https://climatestrategies.org/seasonal-climate-outlooks-for-europe-january-2026/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }