Low Solar Activity Linked to Cold Winter in Northern Europe

This year’s unusually cold winter in northern Europe is probably linked to low solar activity, which altered North Atlantic temperature and wind patterns and prevented warmer jet stream winds from the west reaching northern Europe. Scientists in the UK and Germany analyzed solar activity, temperatures, and jet stream patterns from this past winter and found that they match a historical pattern of cooling associated with lower solar radiation. The findings, published in Environmental Research Letters, show that reduced solar activity tends to block warmer westerly winds from the Atlantic reaching the UK and northern Europe, exposing those regions to colder polar winds. Even though the world as a whole experienced its fifth-warmest winter in 2009-2010, this past winter in the UK was the 14th-coldest in 160 years, researchers said. The researchers say solar activity is expected to remain low in the near future, meaning northern Europe could experience cold winters for the next several years.