World weatherwatch: a beast unleashed by stratospheric warming
This week, for the first time since 2012, Rome was blanketed in nearly 10cm of snow in temperatures of -10C, as the “Beast from the East” crept in from across northern Russia. Beast from the East refers to the bitter easterly winds that carry exceptionally cold and dry continental air across Europe.
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This onset of unseasonably cold weather was resultant of an abrupt shift in temperatures high in the stratosphere, known as sudden stratospheric warming, which disturbed the jet stream and natural weather patterns, allowing this cold air to seep southwards into parts of Europe.
Disturbance has also been felt across the mid-west and north-eastern US, as this same southward dip in the jet stream subsequently steered in successive areas of low pressure, delivering blizzard-like conditions to the Great Lakes and New England.
To central parts of the US, however, melting snow and heavy rain from relentless storms have brought significant flooding, and the wettest February ever recorded in Louisville, Pittsburgh and Indiana as 70 rivers reach flood capacity.
Meanwhile, such shivering conditions would be welcomed across the Arctic, where recent temperatures have been recording 30C above normal, as a storm propelled significant heat through the Greenland Sea.