The Met office explains why the UK is gripped by freeeeeezing weather:
“Normally, our winds come from the west keeping our winters relatively mild. However, during November (like last winter) we have seen a large area of high pressure develop in the Atlantic, causing a ‘block’ to the westerly winds that tend to keep us that little bit milder. As a result this has allowed very cold Arctic air to move south across mainland Europe.
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/corporate/pressoffice/2010/pr20101130b.html
What does the cold weather say about climate change?
Scientists suggest that the current cold weather in the UK could be part of the effects of climate change as the earth continues to warm.. The melting of the ice in the Arctic Ocean caused by the higher temperatures of global warming are melting the sea ice in the summer months and paradoxically increaseing the chances of colder winters in Britain and the rest of northern Europe.
The latest Met Office figures show that for the first 10 months of 2010, global temperatures were 0.52C above the long term average of 14C. Only 1998 – the year of a massive El Nino weather phenomenon in the Pacific – was hotter.
Dr Vicky Pope, Head of Climate Science at the Met Office, said: ‘We’ve not had the figures for November but it’s on course to be either the hottest or second hottest on instrumental records.
‘The last 12 months have been equal to what we saw in 1998, the hottest year on record.’
December 18th, 2010 at 6:23 pm
I agree, the current temperatures in the UK this and last year are due to regional variations and the blocked weather system that we are experiencing at the moment and last winter. It certainly doesn’t prove that the world is getting colder as several people have been trying to tell me recently. I tell them that what they see out of the window is not happening all over the world (surprise surprise) and that in fact we could break records again this year as the warmest our planet has been for a very long while indeed. I’m afraid many people can only see as far as the end of their nose with no concept of the bigger picture. Frustrating indeed!