The present interglacial. Evidence suggests that the so-called post-glacial period, the warm phase following the last (Devensian) ice advance or cold phase, is more appropriately treated as another interglacial of the Quaternary (or Late Cenozoic) Ice Age. In Europe, the warmest Flandrian stage occurred during Atlantic times, about 6000 BP (the Hypsithermal is the equivalent N. American climatic optimum). No consensus view exists as to when the ice advance or extreme cold conditions will prevail once again in high mid-latitudes, nor as to how quickly these conditions will arise. The Flandrian is sometimes referred to alternatively as the Holocene interglacial.