Europe Breaks Low Temperature Records; Summer Snow In St. Petersburg?; U.S. Sees Nationwide Anomaly Of -5.9F And Record-Setting Cold; + The Met Office’s Phantom Stations

America’s record chill adds to the Northern Hemisphere’s growing tally this month.

Europe Breaks Low Temperature Records

Europe has endured a string of bitterly cold nights this week, with records tumbling across multiple nations.

Germany posted its third unusually cold August night in a row.

On Aug 26, widespread lows in the single digits were observed, hovering around 5C (41F) across central North Rhine-Westphalia. In the Ore Mountains, conditions turned even harsher with ground frost — and in places, full air frost.

Several German stations have set new August cold records.

This is no isolated dip, but part of a broader cold anomaly gripping Europe.

Czechia logged sub-zero dawns at 17 sites on Monday, with 15 long-term stations setting new records for the date. The standout was Kvilda-Perla in the Bohemian Forest with -4.8C (23F).

Poland also joined the freeze. In the Orawa–Nowy Targ Basin, a low of -3.6C (26F) at 2 meters and -7.7C (18F) at ground level, both unprecedented readings for August.

Snow has also settled in these parts, in Poland's High Tatras.

Thermometers tanked to -3C (27F) on Kasprowy Wierch with continuous snowfall from Saturday night through Sunday. Flakes can technically strike the highest Polish peaks in any month, but August events are rare, the last coming in 2010.

“In Poland, snow fell in the Tatra Mountains for the first time in 15 years” [WorldNews on X].

Europe has been unusually cool these past 7-days.

And so too has Africa, particularly the tropics. The Sahel and Horn show anomalies as deep as -6C on reanalysis (below) — an extreme departure for the region.

Much of Africa south of the equator is also running cold, which continues last month's extra-tropical Southern Hemisphere drop (from +0.55C in June to +0.10C in July) that was a key driver of July's UAH decline.

JRA-3Q 2m temp anomalies vs 1991-2020 norms (last 7-days)

While globally, again over the past week, the tropical cooling that has persisted through 2025 appears to be intensifying:

More on this to follow (soon).

Summer Snow In St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg just witnessed an unusual late-summer mix of wet snow/hail.