There's been what's been described as an extreme weather event in central and southern Europe. Over the two or three days of the New Year, temperature records for heat have been smashed at hundreds of weather stations. Many Central European countries that we normally regard as frozen wastes in January have been pushing 20°C, and one station in northern Spain has recorded 25°. In their own wintry way, these figures are just as spectacular as the unprecedented extremes of last summer.