Is this the coldest season for years?

As the French weather service gives out another very low temperature alert, and Chamonix hospital announces a 10-15% rise in admittances due to cold-related injuries, we begin to think this is the coldest season for decades. However, Météo France disagrees, saying ‘the temperatures recorded in the beginning of 2005 are nothing exceptional'. Serge Maboulot of Météo France explains. ‘For twenty years there has been a clear trend towards warming. We have lost a month of freezing temperatures per winter. We have also gained a half degree in temperature every ten year, which is enormous. In the last few years this type of continental cold has not exceeded ten to fifteen days, compared with a month and a half at present. When we look at the global figures for winter 2005 we will find a fairly large number of low temperature days similar to those of the 1970s and 80s.'
Perhaps we should enjoy the cold while it lasts: the European Environmental Agency predicts a near-total disappearance of cold winters by 2080....