Europe's deadly cold snap may have a lot to do with shrinking amounts of ice in the Arctic, a recent study suggests.
Nearly 300 deaths have been reported across the continent, with snow accumulations not seen in five decades reported in some places. Warsaw, Poland, has seen 11 days of temperatures well below average, with a coldest reading of 35 below zero Fahrenheit.
As warmer air rises into the stratosphere over the Arctic, colder surface air moves south bringing storms to Europe.
Scientists at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Potsdam, Germany, say the frigid, snowy European winter has its origins in a warm Arctic summer.
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that July 2011 was the fourth-warmest July on record. A warm summer in the Arctic cuts the amount of sea ice. NOAA reports that sea-ice levels last July were the lowest in three decades.
The effect is twofold, the Wegener scientists report.
First, less ice means less solar heat is reflected back into the atmosphere. Rather, it is absorbed into the darker ocean waters. Second, once that heat is in the ocean, the reduced ice cap allows the heat to more easily escape into the air just above the ocean's surface.
Because warmer air tends to rise, the moisture-laden air near the ocean's surface rises, creating instability in the atmosphere and changing air-pressure patterns, the scientists say.
One pattern, called the Arctic Oscillation, normally pushes warm Atlantic air over Europe and keeps Arctic air over the poles.
But in mid-January this year, the Arctic Oscillation abruptly changed, allowing the jet stream to plunge into Siberia and push cold and snowy weather over much of Europe.
Similar situations have emerged the past two years.
Check out some more reports on what this winter's been like, both in the U.S. and around the world:
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Global warming nuts will exploit this any way they can, won't they. Guess what: This is a cycle. It's normal. Get over it.
Thanks for your useless expertise.
I know, those lousy commie liberals will look at this as proof that something that is happening is actually happening. Go figure.
How do you know?
wake up
When was the last time this happened, pray tell? And don't just respond with something asinine like "Ice Age"
You do realize that this was the same a few winters ago and that it was still the warmest year on record, don't you? Global warming dosen't mean it won't be cold anymore. It means the AVERAGE WORLD TEMPERATURE is rising, which is exactly what is happening. Funny how global warming deniers quickly forgot that the past summer was the warmest on record in the U.S.... Now it's cold in Europe ( duh ) and they come out again. They were hiding so nicely last summer. Oh well.
And you might want to read the article again...
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/06/shrinking-polar-ice-caps-may-be-to-blame-for-frigid-europe/comment-page-12/#comment-1044936
shrinking-polar-ice-caps-may-be-to-blame-for-frigid-europe.....
Agreed. We've had global warming and cooling cycles forever. Look at the little ice age, and from what I understand – back in the 70s it was all the rage to worry people over global cooling. Any warming that may be occurring now is going to turn into cooling in a few years.
My lord, denying our contributions to global warming is akin to still believing the Earth is flat. The scientific consensus on the matter is as absolute as is possible. I always wonder where people like you get your information. Do us a favor and educate yourself.
It is warm in the states because of global warming, cold in Europe because of global warming. Next year in may be cold in the US and warm in Europe because of global warming. Wait... Wasn't that last year??
Sarah, maybe you give me a hand. I'm looking for some published peer-reviewed scientific research that shows climate change is bunk. So far, all I can find is unscientific stuff put out by the deniers. Can you point me in the right direction?
Are you a scientist that makes you so sure about the statement you just made?
Do you have may idea what has been happening climatically in the past 2 decades?
What is your background in Earth science that makes you such a professional in Earth science?
Gee, the Sun has been super active lately with enormous coronal ejections and solar storms. That wouldn't have anything to do with it would it? Nah. lol
You are kidding right? You don't seriously think that the sun being more active actually causes the earth's temp to rise.....do you?
Well gee let me see, It could be because it is winter... DUHHHHHHH
Mother nation will not be figured out, so the all these college dudes with a patch on there arm, think they know the answers lol Weather reporting is the only business in the world where you can get a raise for being wrong 99% of the time.
Wrong. Mother Nature is just a physical system like any other. Nothing special. The wonderful thing about humanity is that we *can* and *will* figure the whole thing out. The story of our species is of understanding what was thought to be incomprehensible.
"Mother nation" you say...is that like the father land or something?
The Earth has never dealt with this amount of people and Emissions.
Yes it has.
Well, not people, but emissions.
I agree... there are too many people on the planet....about 4 billion roughly.
I'm sure the Right will continue to be bigots toward environmentalists and live in denial over global warming no matter how bad it gets. It's an unfortunate fact of human nature to wait until its too late.
This is the plot of the movie "The Day after Tomorrow" . Does anyone notice this? Hollywood guessed right
They didn't really guess. It was projected the CO2 ppm increase would have effects like this.
omg global warming is causing all this ...cold! and snow! and dERRRRR cnn keeps on with their ridiculous liberal agenda. haha get real.
your ignorance does not make science incorrect. mass ignorance, however, will result in the extinction of our species.
It's psychologically proven that conservatives are cretins.
If you have scientific peer-reviewed evidence that refutes this, please post it.
russia...cold?!!?!
well it IS 2012..
I love it. The whole "Deadly Cold caused by Global Warming" theme.
Which proves you didn't read the article
Of course. Man made global warming is the cause of cold temperatures.
Last year it was cold in the US..That was global warming
In 2005 there were severe hurricanes (Katrina). That was global warming.
Since 2005 there have been no CAT 5 or 4 hurricanes to hit the US-global warming
This year North America is warm-global warming
Europe is cold-global warming
My socks smell unusually bad-global warming
Dogs generally have four paws-global warming
Ice used to be there, now it's not.....global cooling???? The last time i put ice in my freezer it melted too.....not!
IThe correct term is Climate Change, not global warming. That was an early misnomer for the phenomena.
I wonder why some people are in such denial about climate change, aka, global warming???
You had it right the first time. The name was changes from global warming to climate change. See, when you call it climate change, you can blame humans if the temp goes up or down, if an area get more or less rain, whatever you want.
Think – why don't you guys ever publish any peer-reviewed research that supports your contention?
This is a direct result of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which interrupted the normal flow of the Gulf Stream, which normally keeps the UK and Europe warmer during winter months.
We have at best 100 to 150 years of data with some % of it being cooked up or simulated numbers instead of actual value.. So considering the age of earth, what % does this 150 years form? And we are predicting/deciding global warming etc using 0.00001% of data? I am an engineer.. In my trade that percent is usually ignored as useless statistics..
100 years?
We have ice core data going back 800,000 years. You're off by several orders of magnitude.
Does anyone know what the last few Ice ages in Europe did to North America?