Warmer-than-usual temperatures have prevailed in much of Europe in recent days - but an unreasonably cold front is coming, bringing with it snow.
It will be "much colder than usual" and "much wetter" early next week, according to weather forecaster Alex Deakin, who told Euronews that "very cold air" is coming from the Arctic. But what is causing this strange weather?
"We can not say until this weather phenomenon has occurred," Alun Hubbard, a professor of glaciers at UiT, Norway's Arctic University, told Euronews.
The team tracked water vapor from the Arctic in real time in 2018 and explored it until after it ended up as the massive snowstorm that covered most of Europe that year, an event called Beast from the East.
"One hundred years ago, even 40 years ago in the winter, the Barents Sea would be frozen. It has now become warm, it has become a much stronger source of moisture, ”said Hubbard, who explained that ice acts as a“ lid ”in the ocean, stopping evaporation.
While studies may not prove that the next unusual weather in Europe is a direct result of the same phenomenon, there is a possibility that if current warming trends continue, the icy Barents Sea will be a major source of moisture for continental Europe.
Melting ice in the Arctic will have side effects for Europe; summer will be hotter but it is all part of extreme weather.
