December 2010 has been exceptionally cold and snowy throughout much of northernEurope.Many areas from France to Poland, including Scandinavia and the United Kingdom,have had average temperatures of more than 5 degrees F below normal this month.
Some areas have been as much as 10-15 degrees F below normal.
Impacts from this cold, such as travel disruption and bloated energy use forheating, have been a drag on many European economies. Some estimates ofmonetary loss to the U.K., alone, have topped one billion pounds sterling(about $1.5 billion) each day, owing to effects of cold, snow and ice.
Meteorologists have laid blame for the memorable cold on a persistentatmospheric block, or traffic jam, as it were, over the North Atlantic Ocean,Greenland and northeastern Canada, which set up during the latter half ofNovember. Persistent high pressure of this block has split the jet stream westof Europe, thereby allowing arctic winds to thrust southward east of the high.
This atmospheric block will shift early this upcoming week, allowing milderweather to return to northwest Europe.
The pool of cold air will shift eastward early this week but will remainentrenched over eastern Europe into western Russia. As the cold air shifteastward, milder Atlantic air will flood western Europe, allowing above normaltemperatures to return.
Glasgow, Scotland has averaged 14.9 degrees F below normal this month. Hightemperatures have been in the 20s since December 20th but will return tonear-normal early this week with high temperatures expected to reach the lower40s.
Story by Rob Miller, Senior Meteorologist
