No migrants have tried to cross the border illegally from Belarus to Latvia for nearly a month, the Latvian State Border Guard (VRS) announced, LETA reports. VRS has not detected any attempts at illegal crossings at the border with Belarus since 10 December 2024. VRS estimated that the drop in the flow of irregular migrants…
Last year was Lithuania’s warmest ever recorded, according to data from the Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service (LHMT), BNS reports. The average annual air temperature in Lithuania was 9.5 degrees Celsius in 2024, which was 2.1 degrees higher than the average temperature in 1991-2020. All months except January were warmer in 2024 than the long-term average. The…
The Estonian government may allocate EUR 100mn to state-owned energy company Eesti Energia to speed up the construction of a new gas power plant in Narva, ERR reports. Also, the government is discussing the possible differentiation of renewable energy fees for companies and reducing network tariffs or changing electricity taxes for private consumers. The moves…
Latvian municipalities have begun switching on central heating for households amid the onset of colder weather, LETA reports. Riga’s municipal housing company, Rigas Namu Parvaldnieks (RNP), began providing heating to tenants on 4 October 2024. RNP will turn off heating automatically on warmer days. The Jekabpils municipality will switch on heating in kindergartens first and…
The Lithuanian government is ready to send aid to Poland amid heavy floods caused by Storm Boris, BNS reports. Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre (NKVC) has offered Poland a high-capacity container pumping station and sandbagging equipment. Also, a team of 15-20 rescue workers stand ready to go to Poland. Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry advised travellers…
A recent study reveals a significant increase in the occurrence of heat waves in the Baltic States, particularly Estonia, over the past 30 years, ERR reports. Using data from 40 weather stations in 1951-2021, the study assessed changes in heat waves using five common indices: Number, duration, total days, amplitude, and magnitude, showing a marked…
Lithuania is experiencing increasingly common heat waves with temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius, which experts say is becoming the new summer norm due to climate change, LRT reports. Gytis Valaika from the Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service (LHMT) and Justinas Kilpys from Vilnius University highlight that such temperatures were rare before 2000 but have occurred annually since…
Lithuania experienced its least sunny month on record in December 2023, with an average of only 8.7 hours of sunshine, less than a third of the usual amount, LRT reports. This surpassed the previous record of 9.9 hours set in December 2018, according to the Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service (LHMT). Vilnius only registered 2.9 hours and…
A severe storm that hit Lithuania on 6-7 August 2023 toppled over 50,000 trees in forests, the state forest management enterprise, Valstybiniu Misku Uredija (VMU), announced, BNS reports. Valdas Kaubre, director general of VMU, said that the estimated total area of damaged forest amounted to around 2,000 hectares. Most of the trees fell in the…