Extreme heat in Europe - a new normal together with cold spells in winter, if climate change is not stopped

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Tiistai 20.9.2022 klo 11.29 - Mikko Nikinmaa


The climate models predict that the circulation of warm water towards north and cold water to the south can radically decrease in near future. This is mainly the result of the melting of Greenland ice sheath, which liberates a lot of fresh water to the Arctic Ocean/North Atlantic. Because of this, the surface water becomes less dense than earlier and will not sink in the water column. The downward movement of surface water is the main driver of northward current of warm water in Gulf Stream. Since Gulf Stream keeps the European climate temperate increasing especially winter temperatures, its weakening may change the climate towards Siberian-like.

Other major effectors of European climate are the jet streams at high altitude. Their movements to a large extent determine the movement and stability of low and high pressure zones, and depending of the location of the zones if tropical or arctic air is moving towards Europe. The jet stream has recently started to split more often than earlier, and between the split any weather pattern becomes more stationary that earlier. Although there is no conclusive evidence that the increased splitting of jet stream would be caused by climate change, it has only started to occur recently, more or less at the same time as the global average temperature has increased more than one degree centigrade.

The two factors, weakened Gulf stream and jet stream function, predict that Europe can expect extended heat spells in summer and cold winters. The cold winter weather may occur even though the global temperature increases markedly. So, the truth value of the following is zero. “Look, it is cold now, there is no climate change”, as climate sceptics certainly shall say. But scorching heat in future summers becomes even worse than in 2022   

Avainsanat: Gulf Stream, heat waves, temperature, jet stream


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