Could be a cold winter again

Schmitten – Nov. 2010.
Lots more white stuff to come in the next years?

Last winter was pretty cold in Xàtiva – temperatures down to -6°C at night. And we had some cold winters in the last 2-3 years in Schmitten as well. It looks like that could be the trend. The Guardian ran an article last Friday saying that the loss of summer ice in the Arctic was expected to lead to more extreme weather conditions in northern Europe:
The record loss of Arctic sea ice this summer may mean a cold winter for the UK and northern Europe. The region has been prone to bad winters after summers with very low sea ice, such as 2011 and 2007, said Jennifer Francis, a researcher at Rutgers University…

Energy is not going to get cheaper in the coming years, so heating bills are likely to rise. This week in Germany oil for central heating has fallen slightly in price, but at over 95 cents / liter it’s not cheap (2 years ago, in December 2010 – when oil is usually more expensive – we paid 69 cents a liter).

Comments

Could be a cold winter again — 5 Comments

  1. I hope not! We had a reasonably mild winter last year in the UK – fuel prices are rising ridiculously at the moment…and I don’t fancy any more broken bones!!

  2. I have a special interest in the U.K. weather now too, because our son has just moved to Nottingham to attend college.

    We will be watching the weather and airport situation, especially when it comes time for him to leave for winter break in Germany.

  4. We had quite a bit of snow today – yes, on 27 October 2012.

    I can’t remember a time when we had snow as early as October!
    They might be sledding up there in Schmitten where you used to live.

    On a different note … Thomas is happy at Nottingham. We have not heard from him in almost two weeks :-)

  5. If you haven’t heard from him, he must be settling in well now! I think it is also cold in the UK, and tonight in Xàtiva, it is forecast to go down to 1°C, which is also pretty cool, especially for Spain!