Punch it - with plenty of Christmas Lights. Because up here in Stockholm - it is going to remain dull, overcast, at times rainy - and mild. The latter without any frost, means that people don't break their bones. Which is nice. Walking like a duck during winter time, is always a challenge. Even has been when i was younger. The streets are often filled with (at times) thick ice - not always cleaned - or cleaned in a sloppy manner; meaning that when you walk down the hill it is often tricky to walk without falling or sliding awkwardly, barely coming into balance.

Same 'ol dull

So, it is going to stay mild, without frost - the skies dull, overcast and darkish - with rain or drizzle. Perhaps the sun will show itself brief, rare times...

I can already say, that the total sum this year, will stay below 2000 hours - and with that the lowest since 2017 (albeit still on a high level compared to earlier years with - that has rarely even been mentioned in connection to sunshine: the AIR WAS DIRTIER in the 70s and 80s - and had far more particles.

Particles create clouds, as the water droplets bind to particles in order to create clouds / rain. So, it never occurred to me, that the large efforts of cleaner technology in the industries during the 80s and onwards, contributed significantly to more overall sunshine. Leading to fewer particles = fewer clouds. Resulting into that more energy reached the earth surface (solar radiation) = more warmth = more "warming".

The sun is the main driver of all, remember !

Especially over Europe

I would claim. However, I have also noticed in the past 3 years, that humongous amounts of smoke clouds (= particles) have drifted from those large Canadian wildfires, spreading towards Europe, creating more clouds - leading so slightly less sunshine.

The very strange, immense Wildfires in Canada !

It was in late springtime - in the end of May 2025, when within only 1 day, large parts of Canada suddenly had wildfires "out of nowhere - in the middle of nowhere" - which i felt was extremely strange. Even in areas without any thunderstorm. Or people...

Above; the first appearance of Canadian smoke over Stockholm.

How can you, within 1 day, get such large areas aflame across Canada ?! Also; I have never ever seen so intense smoke drifting towards Europe, so widespread at times covering almost all of Europe. (Talk about many particles hovering in the middle atmosphere for a long time = starting to create more clouds than usual).

I noticed this immediately in satellite charts from day 1. I even documented it in pictures when those smoke-clouds appeared over Stockholm only 2 days later. The media didn't mention anything about it until the first article popped up 8 days later (you had to search for it on the internet)

To my eyes, the sky changed several times over Stockholm - sometimes hazy, sometimes even with a pale-bluish haze. Often dense "dust" or "haze" near the horizon (for a long time). The particle masses from the Canadian Fires came in excessively. Especially over the Atlantic i saw many times gray, rather dense clouds or patches of smoke clouds, near Greenland. Some of it drifted off towards France, Spain, and Portugal.

And no...

Stockholm and surrounding areas had no nearby wild fires of any kind. They were not Cirrus clouds when I took images (end of May, as well in beginning of August as the smoke haze again started to increase over our city - and Europe). We had no haze-fog or anything like that. And no, there was no volcanic eruption present, either.

You can distinguish Cirrus clouds from Wildfire haze, because Cirrus appear bright in a satellite image (because they are cold). The Canadian haze however was invisible in IR satellite imagery, but visible in satellite images taken in visible light.

However, especially mornings and evening, a wildfire haze can at times look very similar to moist haze (which you encounter quite often over the Mediterranean Sea, but also over other parts of Europe). The subtle difference here are two: a wildfire haze had a gray-ish appearance, especially when it is denser - which moist never reaches. Moist haze often seem to disappear very quickly after sunrise. The wildfire haze remains slightly longer visible in the satellite images in visible light. They too however, start to diminish in the satellite imagery, once the sun goes up higher. Only very dense smoke, can sometimes remain visible at noon, but often not.

Also; There was no dust from the Sahara desert visible over Northern Europe. That type of dust often tends to have a slightly red-brownish appearance in VIS satellite images.

Blood Red moons

Also; during May/June, the moon appeared blood red and at times extremely weak to see with your bare eyes. It looked so strange and "out of this world", like a dark red eclipse.

Only that there was none at those times.

The very weak, but very red moon appeared several times. Even the staff at the Högdalen depot noticed the phenomena being rather strange (especially since it wasn't a full moon). Sure, the moon often can get yellow-orange near the horizon during summer when it stands low above the horizon. But not so dark dull red as it was in summer 2025.

(It's a bit difficult to take images of such a moon, because the overall camera exposure time can make the moon appear brighter than it actually was to the naked eye).

Strange satellite images over Europe, Summer 2025

As I mentioned before; i have never seen so large amounts of smoke in satellite charts - covering almost all of Europe at times - and then drifted off towards Russia, China - and sometimes got stuck in deep valleys in China.

I have followed satellite charts for 30+ years... so i see when there is something unusual, off or strange. After a couple month, the monthly sunshine amounts over Stockholm, kind of never reached any heights, like it often tends to do during one or two months (and has been doing in the past 7 years and more). It was as if the general amount of clouds, started to increase instead. Not into any unusual low values or so - but anyhow dampened.