Arctic sea ice extent for January 2011 was the lowest in the satellite record for that month. The Arctic oscillation persisted in its strong negative phase for most of the month…[and]…cold conditions in northern Europe and the U.S. are linked to the strong negative mode of the Arctic oscillation. Cold air is denser than warmer [...]
Signal: Warm Arctic-Cold Continents pattern
Warm Arctic pushing cold storms south to the U.S.
This year, for the second time in row, a warm Arctic is again influencing the Polar Vortex, allowing more cold wind to escape to the south and bringing cold to the U.S. East Coast, East-Central Asia and Europe. In 2010, the extent of sea ice cover in the Arctic at its lowest point in September [...]
Record low December sea ice driving extreme weather conditions
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.
Record low December sea-ice warming Arctic, pushing cold wave south to Europe
Scientists have established a link between the cold, snowy winters in Britain and melting sea ice in the Arctic and have warned that long periods of freezing weather are likely to become more frequent in years to come. An analysis of the ice-free regions of the Arctic Ocean has found that the higher temperatures there [...]
Arctic warming pushing cold wave south over eastern U.S.
Cold air sweeping southwards behind the fierce snowstorm that roared through the Upper Midwest over the weekend is bringing record low temperatures over much of the Southeast this morning. …the strongly negative NAO is back again this winter. High pressure has replaced low pressure over the North Pole, and according to NOAA, the NAO index [...]
Freeze in Europe linked to cold wave pushed south by Arctic warming
Global warming may be contributing to the current heavy snow and subzero temperatures across Europe, which has closed major airports, caused hundreds of highway accidents and several deaths. Cold weather in Europe is often associated with a weather system known as the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) but there is also a significant impact from current [...]
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 2010 in Europe moderated by climate change
The winter of 2009/2010 was characterized by record persistence of the negative phase of the North-Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) which caused several severe cold spells over Northern and Western Europe. We show however that the cold European temperature anomaly of winter 2010 was (i) not extreme relative to winters of the past six decades, and (ii) [...]
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 [...]
