Daily Management Review

Wacky Weather Causes ‘Split In The Polar Vortex’


02/27/2018


North Pole experiences warmer temperatures while the easterlies move towards Europe.



“Wacky” weather sets in as Europe experiences “a blast of Arctic cold” with the warming area of North Pole. In fact, the “man-made warming” could be responsible for more often such weather.
 
The meteorological centre at the northern end of Greenland marked a record breaking temperature of “61 hours” above freezing point as the ice sheet over the sea retreats in a rare manner during the “Arctic winter darkness”. The Danish Meteorological Institute’s scientist, Ruth Mottram, said:
“It’s never been this extreme”.
 
Pushing cold currents towards south, warmth approached the Arctic on either side of the Atlantic as well as the “Bering Strait”. Temperatures around the arctic are 20°C “above normal”, whereby hitting at -18°C records DMI. On the contrary, Rome situated on the south face a “rare snow storm, while the same could hit “as low as” -10°C in the following week.
 
The winds hitting from the poles, “cities from Warsaw to Oslo” experience a drop in temperature by -8°C. In fact, a study that took place in 1974, has stated that if the Arctic Ocean was to get rid of its ice, the southern regions could turn “colder”. While, Reuters reported:
“That ‘warm Arctic, cold continent’ (WAC#C) pattern is sometimes dubbed ‘wacc-y’ or ‘wacky among climate scientists”.
 
While, a tweet from University of Hamburg’s professor, Lars Kaleschke, read:
“Wacky weather continues with scary strength and persistence”.
 
Furthermore, Kaleschke informed Reuters that:
“The question is whether this weather will happen more often. This is just one event so it’s hard to make a causal relationship”.
 
Shrinking arctic ice line due to the global worming effects “exposes warmer water below”, this in turn heats up the atmosphere, whereby potentially “disrupting the high altitude jet stream”. In the words of the Research Director at Norwegian Polar Institute, Nalan Koc:
“The jet stream becomes wavier, meaning that colder air can penetrate further south and warmer air further north”.
 
The Head of the “U.N. Environment”, Erik Solheim, attributes the “rare weather” to a “wider pattern” with the “build-up of greenhouse gases” at the root. He said:
“What we once considered to be anomalies are becoming the new normal. Our climate is changing right in front of our eyes, and we’ve only got a short amount of time to stop this from getting significantly worse”.
 
Reuters have obtained a “leaked draft” from the United Nations’ scientists’ panel report, which reveals that the “risk of an ice-free Arctic in summer is about 50 percent or higher” as the warming comes “between 1.5 and 2.0 degrees”.
 
The “Sudden Stratospheric Warming” around north pole is at the root of the sudden chill experienced in Europe, reports the World Meteorological Organization, whereby leading to a “split in the polar vortex”. However, Reuters added:
“A big problem in figuring out whether the Arctic warmth is driven by human activities or natural variations is a lack of measuring stations. There are no thermometers at the North Pole and satellite measurements go back only to the late 1970s”.
 
Norwegian Meteorological Institute’s Senior Scientist, Rasmus Benestad, stated:
“There have also been recent winters with similar deviations”.
 
While, DMI’s Mottram thinks that winters at Europe are “less severe”:
“It’s not actually that cold. Its just our perceptions have shifted from a normal winter.”
 
 
References:
reuters.com