Most of Western Europe has an Oceanic climate, in the Köppen climate classification. Oceanic climates normally feature cool summers, cool winters, and frequent overcast skies in fall, winter, and early spring. Far southern Europe has a Mediterranean climate, which features warmer to hot summers, less annual rainfall, and frequent sunny skies. Central-eastern Europe is classified as having a Continental climate, which features hot summers, cold winters, and large annual ranges of temperatures. The climate of western Europe is strongly conditioned by the Gulf Stream, which keeps mild air over Northwestern Europe in the winter months, especially in Ireland, the UK and coastal Norway. Parts of the central European plains have a hybrid oceanic/continental climate. Four seasons occur in most of Europe away from the Mediterranean. The coastal lowlands near and on the Mediterranean Sea, have more of a wet and dry season pattern, with winter the season of most rainfall, and summers a time of few rainy days.
Gulf Stream
The climate of Western Europe is milder in comparison to other areas of the same latitude around the globe due to the influence of the Gulf Stream. The Mediterranean's waters are not as deep as the large oceans, allowing it to become a heat store tempering winters along its coastlines. The Gulf Stream is nicknamed "Europe's central heating", because it makes Europe's climate warmer and wetter than it would otherwise be. Compared to areas located in the higher middle latitudes, parts of western Europe have mild winters and higher annual temperatures. Berlin, Germany; Calgary, Canada; and Irkutsk, in the Asian part of Russia, lie on around the same latitude; January temperatures in Berlin average around 8 °C higher than those in Calgary, and they are almost 22 °C higher than average temperatures in Irkutsk. This difference is even larger on the northern part of the continent. The January average in Brønnøysund, Norway, is almost 15 °C warmer than the January average in Nome, Alaska, both towns are situated upwind on the west coast of the continents at 65°N, and as much as 42 °C warmer than the January average in Yakutsk which is actually slightly further south. Further south the oceanic climate of Europe compares thermally to North America, at around 48°N Rennes, France has about an equal average temperature throughout the year to Seattle, Washington, although the latter has drier summers with much wetter winters.
Temperature
Most of Europe sees seasonal temperatures consistent with temperate climates in other parts of the world, though summers north of the Mediterranean Sea are cooler than most temperate climates experience in summer. Among the cities with a population over 100,000 people in Europe, the coldest winters are mostly found in Russia, with daily highs in winter averaging 0 C, while the mildest winters in the continent are in coastal southern Spain and the southernmost coast of Crete. Almería, Málaga, Cádiz, Algeciras and Ierapetra average over in January with during the day. The hottest summers of the continent occur in cities and towns of the hinterland of southern Spain: July average highs in this region are in Seville and in Cordoba.
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Year
Helsinki
−1.3
−1.9
1.6
7.6
14.4
18.5
21.5
19.8
14.6
9.0
3.7
0.5
9.0
Minsk
−2.1
−1.4
3.8
12.2
18.7
21.5
23.6
22.8
16.7
10.2
2.9
−1.2
10.8
Budapest
1.2
4.5
10.2
16.3
21.4
24.4
26.5
26.0
22.1
16.1
8.1
3.1
15.0
London
8.1
8.6
11.6
14.6
18.1
21.0
23.4
23.1
20.0
15.5
11.3
8.4
15.3
Paris
6.9
8.2
11.8
14.7
19.0
21.8
24.4
24.6
20.8
15.8
10.4
7.8
15.5
Bucharest
1.5
4.1
10.2
18.0
23.3
26.8
28.8
28.5
24.6
18.0
10.0
3.8
16.5
Rome
14.0
15.1
18.3
21.1
25.9
29.6
32.3
32.5
27.2
23.0
18.1
15.3
22.4
Barcelona
13.9
14.3
16.4
18.9
22.5
26.1
28.6
29.0
26.0
22.5
17.1
14.5
20.6
Lisbon
14.8
16.2
18.8
19.8
22.1
25.7
27.9
28.3
26.5
22.5
18.2
15.3
21.5
Malta
15.6
15.6
17.3
19.8
24.1
28.6
31.5
31.8
28.5
25.0
20.7
17.1
23.0
Málaga
16.8
17.7
19.6
21.4
24.3
28.1
30.5
30.8
28.2
24.1
20.1
17.5
23.3
Athens
13.4
14.3
17.1
21.2
26.6
31.7
34.4
34.3
29.7
24.1
18.7
14.4
23.3
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Gdańsk
4
3
3
4
8
13
16
18
15
12
9
6
Brighton
9
8
8
9
11
13
15
17
17
16
13
11
Marseille
13
13
13
14
16
18
21
22
21
18
16
14
Lisbon
15
15
15
16
17
18
19
20
20
19
18
17
Barcelona
13
13
13
14
17
20
23
25
23
20
17
15
Rome
16
15
16
17
20
22
26
27
25
21
19
16
Athens
16
15
15
16
18
21
24
24
24
21
19
17
Naples
16
15
16
18
20
23
27
28
26
23
20
17
Valencia
14
14
14
16
19
23
25
26
25
22
19
16
Málaga
16
16
16
17
18
21
23
24
22
20
18
17
Malta
16
16
15
16
18
21
24
26
25
23
21
18
Tornadoes
The Netherlands has the highest average number of recorded tornadoes per area of any country in the world, followed by the UK, but most are small and cause minor damage. In absolute number of events, ignoring area, the UK experiences more tornadoes than any other European country, excluding waterspouts. Europe uses its own tornado scale, known as the TORRO scale, which ranges from a T0 for extremely weak tornadoes to T11 for the most powerful known tornadoes.
