14 DAY TRIAL // This past winter, folks in the United States experienced the cold spell of a lifetime. According to some researchers, this record freeze need be linked to the fact that the Arctic is warming faster than regions further south.
Besides, it has been argued that, as climate change and global warming progress, both North America and Europe have high chances to experience an increase in the number of extreme cold events documented on a global scale.
Dr. James Screen with the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom disagrees and says that, according to his investigations into the matter at hand, climate change and global warming will not up the frequency of extreme cold events.
On the contrary, the fact that the current warming rate in the Arctic is greater than that of regions further south means that periods of extreme cold will become fewer and farther between in the years to come, Dr. James Screen explains.
In a paper published in the journal Nature Climate Change, the researcher explains that, recent extreme cold events aside, the fact remains that, over the past few years, autumn and winter temperatures reported in Europe and North America have steadily been decreasing.
Besides, the University of Exeter specialist says that, as proven by available data, winter and autumn days in North America and Europe are now less variable than they used to be. This can only mean that the overall risk for extreme cold events is dropping.
“Autumn and winter days are becoming warmer on average, and less variable from day-to-day,” Dr. James Screen told the press in a recent interview. “Both factors reduce the chance of extremely cold days,” the researcher added, as cited by EurekAlert.
Looking to determine how the fact that the Arctic is warming at a rapid pace will alter winters and autumns in North America and Europe, the researcher compiled and analyzed data concerning temperature variability in the mid-to-high latitude Northern Hemisphere.
He found that, due to an increase in the average temperature of otherwise cold winds blowing from the north, the cold days that these winds are supposed to birth are also less impressive or cryogenic than they were just decades ago.
As Dr. James Screen puts it, “Cold days tend to occur when the wind is blowing from the north, bringing Arctic air south into the mid-latitudes. Because the Arctic air is warming so rapidly these cold days are now less cold than they were in the past.”