- VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Bears
in Slovakia are awakening early from hibernation. So are barmaids in Bavaria,
unseasonably busy in outdoor beer gardens. Bushes are blooming in Austria,
and skiers at snowless Bosnian resorts are chilling out in hotel pools.
-
- Forgoing a White Christmas was one thing, but the utter
absence of snow for weeks on end has many Europeans pining for what seems
- so far, anyway - like the winter that wasn't. "Hope springs eternal,"
Austria's Kleine Zeitung newspaper headlined Tuesday over a photo of a
lone snowflake.
-
- The country's alpine ski slopes have plenty of white
stuff, but Vienna and much of eastern Austria haven't had more than a dusting
since early December.
-
- Although temperatures have been dropping to near freezing
overnight, warm air pumped up from the Azores has produced a string of
sunny, balmy days ranging up to 12 C across much of the continent.
-
- Belgium had its warmest Jan. 10 on record Monday, when
the mercury peaked at 14 C in Brussels. Scores of people took to their
terraces to soak up the sun, and others strolled along North Sea beaches.
-
- It was even warmer - a touch under 16 C - in the southern
Czech city of Ceske Budejovice on Saturday, the balmiest Jan. 8 recorded
in 230 years.
-
- In marked contrast, winter storms in some regions of
northern Europe accounted for at least 17 deaths and left tens of thousands
without power
-
- In parts of the Czech Republic and neighbouring Slovakia,
the springlike weather gave an early wakeup call to some brown bears, whose
interrupted hibernation left them as grumpy as anyone roused early from
a deep sleep. Naturalists warned that the testy animals were unlikely to
fall back to sleep and could be dangerous later in the season.
-
- Even corners of southern Europe, where winter is just
a state of mind, have been affected. Months of mostly dry, sunny weather
have brought drought conditions to parts of Portugal, parching farmland
and leaving some reservoirs at 15 per cent of capacity.
-
- The warmth has created unstable conditions in Romania's
Carpathian Mountains and in Austria's Alps, where authorities raised the
avalanche alert to its highest level.
-
- Although most alpine ski centres had plenty of snow,
poor conditions prompted World Cup organizers to cancel some events last
weekend in southern Germany, where Bavaria's famed beer gardens opened
for scores of thirsty visitors.
-
- Skiers packed Bosnia's two best-known resorts, Mount
Bjelasnica and Mount Jahorina. But with the slopes largely devoid of snow,
most took long walks or relaxed in hotel pools and saunas.
-
- "We go skiing once a year, and for us, lack of
snow is the worst thing that can happen," Ignjat Markov, a student
from Serbia, said in disgust. "We spent money to come here, and now
we're playing cards."
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