Gardeners have been advised to give their lawns a light cut. In Berlin shirtsleeves have replaced fur coats, and blossom adorns the hedgerows. Night and day the air is balmy and the city resounds to birds chirruping. At lunchtime workers and tourists opt for pavement seats at the capital's cafes and soak up the sun. In Salzburg, Austria, strawberries are prematurely turning deep red and everywhere flowers are coming into bloom.
Skiers are in despair.
In the Alpine city of Graz a 44-ton ice Nativity scene has melted into slush. The situation is similar across much of central and eastern Europe, where the unseasonal mildness could lead to the hottest December on record. In Moscow, plans to open an ice rink in Red Square over the holiday period are under threat and chaos reigns on the streets, where piles of slush are preventing motorists parking near the kerbs. The German television weather man Jorg Kachelmann attributed the temperatures not to global warming but to persistent southerly winds which had bought warm air to Europe for far longer than usual. What is most extraordinary is the length of time the warm spell has lasted.