Cold hits the UK

8 01 2010

Reading about the current cold snap in the UK, it’s amazing to watch the country falling apart, completely unable to cope.

The thing is, as I understand it, this is the ‘natural’ state of affairs for Britain – by which,I mean that these are the natural temperatures at the UK’s latitude. The only reason that the UK is normally warmer is the warm waters of the Gulf Stream.

It’s well-known that climate change is melting the glaciers in Greenland, releasing vast amounts of freshwater into the Arctic waters. It’s also well-established that, given sufficient volume, the salinity of the northern ocean will change; this will change the way the ocean currents behave, and potentially divert the Gulf Stream further south. This would leave the UK…. cold.

So, what is causing the current cold snap? Is this a vision of a possible British future in a changed climate?

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Categories : Environment