Poland sees record high January temperatures of almost 19°C on first day of year

Temperatures reached almost 19°C (66.2°F) in Poland yesterday, a new all-time record high for January. In some parts of the country, including the capital Warsaw, the average temperature across the day reached the level set by the state meteorological agency to qualify as summer temperatures.

The figures come after a December that saw temperatures drop below -18°C (-0.4°F) and some of the biggest snowfall in a decade.

An official measuring station in the Okęcie district of Warsaw yesterday recorded a temperature of 18.9°C just before noon. As well as being Poland’s highest-ever January temperature (surpassing the 18.6°C recorded in Pszenno in 1999), it was also the highest ever seen in the capital during winter.

All around the country, the weather was unseasonably warm, with the state meteorological agency, IMGW-PIB, noting that temperatures were 15°C above the usual average for that day.

In Słubice, a town on the western border with Germany, the average temperature across the day was 15.3°C, while in Warsaw and the city of Wrocław it was 15°C, noted IMGW-PIB. That met the agency’s threshold of 15°C to be defined as summer temperatures.

Yesterday’s hot spell followed another record falling the previous day, with the 18.1°C recorded in Słubice beating the previous highest-ever New Year’s Eve temperature of 14.6°C (which was recorded in Legnica a year earlier).

Last summer, Słubice also recorded Poland’s highest-ever June temperature, of 38.3°C (100.9°F).

Temperatures in Słubice on 31 December were almost 14 degrees above the average for that day, while across Poland as a whole they were on average 10 degrees higher, according to IMGW.

Neighbouring Germany also recorded its highest-ever New Year’s Eve temperature, notes Polish weather news service DobraPogoda24. The warm weather is the result of air flowing across Europe from northwest Africa.

The rest of this week is forecast to remain relatively warm, though below the peaks seen on 31 December and 1 January.

Poland has, like other parts of the world, seen rising temperatures in recent years. 2019 was the hottest year the country has seen since records began and 2022 was also among the warmest ever, climatologist Rafał Maszewski told Polsat News yesterday.

Last month, however, saw extremely low temperatures. On the night of 13-14 December, thermometers dropped to -18.6°C in the east of the country. Poland also experienced some its heaviest snowfall in a decade.

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.