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Europe is almost 70 percent covered in snow, the highest level in recent years
Levon Azizyan, Director of the Hydrometeorology and Monitoring Center SNCO, reported on his social media page:
According to satellite data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center, the snow cover in Europe in early January 2026 is quite extensive, covering approximately 7.8 million square kilometers, which is almost 70% of the European continent. The most significant areas of snow cover are located in Northern, Central, and Eastern Europe, with nearly complete coverage in Scandinavia, the Baltic states, Eastern Europe, and most of Russia.
At the same time, extensive snow cover is also observed in the mountainous regions of Central and Southeastern Europe, including the Alps, the Carpathians, and the Balkans.
In contrast, the southwestern and southern parts of the continent, such as western France, most of Spain, Italy, and Greece, remain largely snowless.
This is the highest level recorded in recent years, as confirmed by European comparative archive data on snow cover since 2018.
Snow cover has only been significantly larger in 2009 and 2010, with comparable levels recorded in 2017.
The current snow cover ranks fourth in the last 20 years.
