The extreme negative Arctic Oscillation, driven by record low sea ice, has been identified as one of the primary drivers of cold, snowy winters for the eastern U.S. and western Europe.
Signal: changes in Arctic Oscillation
Arctic warming pushing colder winters south to Europe
The overall warming of the earth’s northern half could result in cold winters. The shrinking of sea-ice in the eastern Arctic causes some regional heating of the lower levels of air – which may lead to strong anomalies in atmospheric airstreams, triggering an overall cooling of the northern continents, a study recently published in the [...]
Winter storms driven and moderated by climate change
…those cold temperatures and record snowfalls were not all that unusual and are actually consistent with there being a global warming trend. That new insight comes courtesy of two recent reports: the Arctic Report Card prepared by the Arctic Council (discussed here yesterday) and a paper published last week in the journal Geophysical Research Letters [...]
Warming arctic pushing cold winters south to U.S., Europe
Higher air temperatures in the lower Arctic atmosphere in fall [are] contributing to changes in the atmospheric circulation in both the Arctic and northern mid-latitudes. Winter 2009-2010 showed a new connectivity between mid-latitude extreme cold and snowy weather events and changes in the wind patterns of the Arctic; the so-called Warm Arctic-Cold Continents pattern. Winter [...]
NOAA: Warming arctic pushing cold tracks south to U.S.
Preliminary results from numerical computer simulations indicate that the significant cold anomalies over the eastern US in winter are associated with the decrease of the Arctic sea-ice cover in the preceding summer-to-autumn seasons Although there is considerable year to year variability, as summer Arctic open water area increases over the next decades, an increasing influence [...]
Harsh U.S. winter in 2010 triggered by climate change
A paper published yesterday in the journal Geophysical Research Letters claims the harsh winter weather is consistent with a warming world. The paper blames the severe weather on warmer temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere caused by climate change. Warmer air means the atmosphere can hold more water. When continental Europe and northern America cool in [...]
