Artic Warming to Cause Fewer Freezing Winters, Study Finds

A new research associates Arctic warming with fewer extreme cold winters in the U.S. as well as Europe.

The accelerated rate at which the Arctic is warming compared to places further south, is called the Arctic amplification.  This phenomenon has been associated with the severe cold weather being experienced in Europe and the North America over recent years.

 A study by researchers at University of Exeter, however, shows that Arctic amplification has actually lowered the risk of cold extreme across the Northern Hemisphere.

 Dr James Screen, the study lead does not believe that parts of Europe and North America will experience a greater number, or more severe, extreme cold days over the course of the next century.

Dr Screen, a Mathematics Research Fellow at the University of Exeter, says, "Autumn and winter days are becoming warmer on average, and less variable from day-to-day. Both factors reduce the chance of extremely cold days."

The prolonged and severe winter of 2014 led some experts to link Arctic amplification to the extreme whether conditions across areas of the United States.

The research team looked at detailed climate records to highlight that variability in autumn and winter temperatures has reduced in the mid to high latitude Northern Hemisphere in recent decades. The team says this is due to the northerly winds, associated with cold days, getting warmer at a faster rate compared to the southerly winds and warm days.

Dr Screen said: "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."

With the help of advanced climate modeling, Dr Screen revealed that the changes will continue to take place in the future and temperature variability will reduce in all seasons expect for the summers.

The finding was documented in the Nature Climate Change.