The Arctic and Europe are both having some very odd weather. It's been colder in London and Zurich than at Cape Morris Jesup at the northern tip of Greenland. Rome had a snowstorm on Monday that resulted in school closures and snowball fights. Meanwhile, the currently sunless Arctic is about 36 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) above normal, clocking in at 17.6 F (minus 8 C).
Per the World Meteorological Organization, a "sudden stratospheric warming event" about 18 miles (30 kilometers) above the North Pole caused a split in the northern polar vortex. This vortex, a low pressure system of strong winds, normally keeps the Arctic nice and chilly during the winter months, but the split has allowed a rush of warm air into the region while pushing a jet stream of cold south, toward Europe.
While this is certainly an anomaly, it isn't without some degree of warning. Back in 2015, a group of researchers proposed a controversial hypothesis called "warm Arctic, cold continents," which has since been called"wacky" by other climate scientists. Basically, the hypothesis proposes that as global warming decreases Arctic sea ice and exposes warmer waters, those waters release heat into the atmosphere. This, the hypothesis suggests, will alter atmospheric patterns, like the polar vortex.
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