Insane, out of wack, crazy even... are appropriate epithets with which to describe the current weather in Europe. While it’s cold in all of the rest of Europe, warm breezes are sweeping in over Norrland, the northernmost part of Sweden. “It feels like spring,” says Frida Bergquist from Piteå. The warmest temperature, 9.9 degrees Celsius (49F), was measured in Pite-Rönnskär.

“It’s unusual and almost record temperatures for February that far up north,” said Markus Sjöstedt, meteorologist at SMHI. The reason for the spring like weather? A high pressure from the west.
“When it crossed the mountains it created a blow drying effect when dry air sinks and then gets warm again,” explains Sjöstedt. The temperatures in the region will continue to be warm a few more days, but the weekend is expected to be cold again. In order to find temperatures similar to those in Piteå you have to go to Barcelona in Spain.

The beach along the Bothnian sea, the northernmost part of the Baltic is known for warm temperatures in the summer. Pite Havsbad, often called the ‘Riviera of the North’ since, for several summers it’s offered the highest water temperatures in the Baltic.