Europe’s Spring Weather Is Putin’s Winter of Discontent
Warmth and energy-generating wind are keeping power supplies healthy and saving up for the future.
Springtime for Putin — and Germany.
Photographer: Arterra/Universal Images Group EditorialYou don’t usually wear a T-shirt to welcome the New Year in Europe. But if the weather forecast proves correct, Berliners will enter 2023 in spring-like temperatures of about 15 degrees Celsius, the average for the day is usually closer to freezing. Paris and Zurich may reach 18 degrees in the first or second day of the New Year.
In normal times, the unseasonably mild weather would be unmitigated bad news: another sign of global warming. But right now, the warmth — and relatively strong wind — is good news for a continent battling an energy crisis. It mean there will be a lot less gas and electricity demand plus more wind power. With it come lower prices. The loser is President Vladimir Putin of Russia.