A new year has brought new record temperatures across the continent as frost-hardened Europeans bask in some unexpected sunshine.

For this year at least it’s meant skiers are now donning hiking boots and shorts on slopes without any snow.

But is this a blip or will these abnormal highs now become the norm? And if so, what’s the lasting impact of the warm winter weather?

From the picturesque French Alps, our correspondent Rupert Evelyn tells Daniel Hewitt what you need to know…