France basks in warmest autumn since 1950

0 Comments | AFP, November, 2006

TOULOUSE, France (AFP) — France has recorded its mildest autumn since 1950, weather experts said, part of a Europe-wide warm spell that has disrupted the migratory patterns of thousands of birds. Over the past three months temperatures have been 2.9 degrees Celsius higher than the seasonal norm, peaking at 3.3 degrees above average in October, according to Michel Schneider, an engineer at Meteo France.

The season has been exceptionally mild across the whole of western Europe, from Scandinavia to Germany and Switzerland -- where ornithologists say the balmy weather has led many birds to delay their winter migration south. In the French Alps and Pyrenees, ski station operators preparing to launch the winter season have been waiting anxiously for the first signs of snow, with...