WSI sees mild weather for UK, cold for east Europe

The specialist in forecasts for the weather-sensitive energy industry said in late January it expected abnormally cold weather to return to much of northern Europe toward the end of February.

During the last couple of weeks Nordic regions and eastern Europe have seen a return to colder than normal temperatures. But Britain, which suffered one of the coldest starts to winter on record in late 2010, has remained relatively warm.

"The UK has been caught in the middle between the persistent cold Scandinavian ridging and the stormy, warmer cyclonic flow in the eastern Atlantic, resulting in near to slightly above-normal temperatures there," WSI Chief Meteorologist Todd Crawford said.

"As we progress into March, this pattern of cold weather in eastern European sections and milder weather across western sections will continue... For Europe as a whole, however, we continue to expect below-normal temperatures to be more prevalent than above-normal temperatures through most of the spring."

After a relatively warm March, WSI expects April to be cooler than normal in Britain -- Europe's biggest consumer of gas because of heavy reliance on gas central heating -- but sees above average temperatures again in May.

For the whole of Europe WSI predicts regional temperature anomalies as follows:

MARCH

Nordic Region - Colder than normal

UK - Warmer than normal

North Mainland - Colder than normal, except northern France

South Mainland - Colder, except southern France/Iberia

APRIL

Nordic Region - Colder than normal

UK - Colder than normal

Northern Mainland - Colder than normal

Southern Mainland - Colder than normal, except Southeast

MAY

Nordic Region - Warmer, except southern Sweden/Finland

UK - Warmer than normal

Northern Mainland - Colder, except Benelux/northern France

Southern Mainland - Colder than normal

(Reporting by Daniel Fineren, editing by Anthony Barker)