As the North Atlantic Current of the Gulf Stream Slows Down, the Big Freeze Could Become ‘Permanent’
Third Wave of Arctic Blast Continues to Bring Snow and Cold to Much of Europe
London’s Heathrow Airport, Europe’s busiest hub for air passengers, has canceled all arrivals, with only a handful of departures, as temperatures plunged to -5.2C overnight. This winter could turn out to be the coldest on record (since 1910).
Fresh snow has brought much of Britain to a standstill. Traffic queues in the snow on the A3 near Guildford, in southern England December 18, 2010. Reuters/Luke MacGregor. Image may be subject to copyright.
The Temp lows in Britain:
Loch Glascarnoch (Scotland) : -17.2C
Norwich (England) : -14.4C
Tredegar (Wales) : -10.2C
“For the first 15 days of this month, the average has been -0.7C. So far this month there have been five nights in Edinburgh when the mercury dropped below -10C, once hitting -16C. On December 7, the maximum temperature reached in the daytime there was -8C,” a report said.
“In Manchester and London, 11 out of 16 nights were below freezing, the coldest in Manchester -12C and in London -5C.”
Rest of Europe
In Paris, Charles de Gaulle’s air traffic was cut by about 50 percent as heavy snow blanketed the French capital. At Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport there were many cancellations and long delays.
At Frankfurt airport, Germany’s busiest, nearly half of the planned total of 1,350 flights, departures and arrivals, were canceled Sunday.
Heavy snowfall covered much of Scandinavia, where temperatures dipped to -22ºC (-8ºF).
Heavy snow and ice storms affected as far south as Italy. Tuscany was blanketed in several inches of snow, forcing the closure of Florence’s airport on Sunday.
Heating Oil Shortage
Up to 3 million homes, schools and hospitals face fuel rationing this winter, as the UK government warns of ‘very serious’ shortage of heating oil during the cold snaps.
The price of heating oil in the UK has skyrocketed by 63% since June, to 71 pence [USD1.10] per liter today.
The Thermohaline Circulation (THC)
The great ocean conveyor belt delivers warm water into the north Atlantic, making Europe warmer than it would otherwise be. The slowing down or stopping of these currents could result in catastrophic changes in the world’s climate.
FIRE-EARTH believes that the North Atlantic current of the Gulf Stream is slowing down and could stop entirely in the very near future.
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