It has been a cold start to the year across much of Europe, particularly in central regions, where temperatures dropped to double-digit negatives. Heavy snowfall hit parts of eastern and central Europe on New Year’s Eve, notably in Poland and Ukraine, with similar conditions across the Alps on the first few days of the year.

The cold is likely to continue this week as an Arctic air mass sinks south across Europe, pulling temperatures well below the seasonal average outside south-east Europe. Temperatures are expected to fall widely by about 5C (41F) below average, with some areas – such as parts of central and north-eastern Europe – up to 10C lower than the norm. When wind chill is taken into account, it will feel even colder.

In South Korea, the cold air mass brought snow, with Jeju island experiencing the greatest disruption. Flights and ferries were cancelled due not only to snow amounts, which reached more than 9cm in Jeju City, but also because of strong winds and significant wind shear.

Corsica was also struck by remarkably strong winds. Gusts of about 60mph battered the heavily populated town of L’Île-Rousse, while gusts approaching 100mph were recorded in the Cap Corse region, a peninsula in the north-east of the island.

Although the Mistral wind regularly affects Corsica, the current atmospheric setup is not a textbook Mistral event. High pressure positioned in the Atlantic, farther north than usual, drove stable cold air southward across France. At the same time, a low-pressure system developed in the Gulf of Genoa.

The contrast between these two systems funnelled cold air through the confined constraints of the Rhône valley, causing it to accelerate rapidly in a Venturi-like fashion. The wind then burst over the Gulf of Lion, curved eastward around the base of the low-pressure system and was directed towards the Balagne and Cap Corse regions of Corsica.