>Frigid Night Across New England, Europe Looking Less Cold This Week

Written by Mark Vogan on February 12, 2012 in Rest of Europe with 0 Comments

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Blame That Stubborn Azores High For Lack Of Winter Across Ireland & Scotland!

Winter Leaves Out Ireland, N.I and Scotland While The Rest Of Europe Shivers!

Dense fog shrouds Lennoxtown as mild Atlantic air crosses over cold ground (Photo Courtesy of Mark Vogan)

What a difference a year makes is a statement fitting to this winter for both the Irish and Scots while large parts of England have snow and ice covered ground and up until today, plenty of cold air.

As for over 90% of continental Europe, the period from Jan 20 through Feb 15 or longer, may end up in the top 5 coldest in the last 100 years. As close to us as the Netherlands and Belgium, this period may be coldest in many years.

Great skating conditions across the Netherlands! (Photo Courtesy of Dutch News. NL)

So, what happened to winter for Ireland and Scotland? Blame the that, persistent, stubborn azores high which has stood strong over the northeast Atlantic through much of this winter and ultimately kept winter away from the UK this year.

While Europe filled from east to west with truely frigid air originating from the heart of Siberia, the UK and Ireland remained just too far west with a stronger Azores high holding back that cold from crossing the North Sea.

For those across large parts of England, their fortunes changed last weekend with firstly last weekend’s widespread snow, followed by a second spell just a few days ago. That secondary snowfall, helped by the western boundary of deeper cold, continental air sitting overhead, allowed the laying of tracks in which the Siberian express could run along from the low countries, across the North Sea and over the snowfields of eastern and southern England. However, further west and north, the milder Atlantic air has continued to win out, the persistency of the azores high has meant no winter for us here in Scotland nor Ireland.

Yes, the next several days does look to turn milder not only throughout the UK, including England but also over western mainland Europe.

I shall look further at the rest of this winter’s prospects for the UK and Ireland. Many questions are being fired up now and the biggest one will be. Are we going to see winter across Ireland and Scotland? Time is running out, yes, however I shall answer these questions and share what I believe will happen before it’s simply too late.

Dozens of crashes reported on icy roads in East Anglia
BBC

The Netherlands takes to its skates
DUTCH NEWS. NL

Skiing during half-term?
BBC