North Atlantic Current of Northwestern Europe. Other branches include the Irminger Current and the Norwegian Current. Driven by the global thermohaline circulation, the North Atlantic Current is part of the wind-driven Gulf Stream, which goes further east and north from the North American coast across the Atlantic and into the Arctic Ocean. The North Atlantic Current, together with the Gulf Stream, have a long-lived reputation for having a considerable warming influence on European climate. However, the principal cause for differences in winter climate between North America and Europe seems to be winds rather than ocean currents (although the currents do exert influence at
2013–14 Atlantic winter storms in Europe it explosively deepened before reaching Western Europe. Deepening below is considered uncommon in the North Atlantic, but has been recorded on a number of occasions, measured from ships transiting the ocean and from land based-recording stations. Offshore the minimum low pressure of the "Dirk" storm was forecast to reach a low of . On land the low pressure during the storm was measured at on 24 December at Stornoway, Isle of Lewis off the north west coast of Scotland. This the lowest measured in Britain and Ireland since 1886 (127 years), when a low of was recorded in Belfast, Northern