According to weather experts, a polar vortex split will cause arctic cold in Germany this winter. The reason: there is less and less sea ice.
How the weather will be in Germany in winter 2021/2022 depends primarily on the polar vortex. The polar vortex forms over the North Pole every autumn, has a diameter of around 1,000 kilometers, measures temperatures of up to minus 80 degrees and influences winter weather in Central Europe. If the polar vortex is stable, the arctic cold tends to be concentrated over the North Pole. If it is weakened, however, the freezing cold can escape and spread to Germany.
Since there is less and less ice * covering the oceans due to climate change, the polar vortex is weaker than ever. And the weaker the vortex, the more likely it is to split – this phenomenon is called polar vortex split. Should this happen, the split allows ice-cold arctic air to escape from the polar vortex. According to the weather experts, due to the lack of sea ice, it is very likely that exactly this case will occur this year and a polar vortex split will give us an icy winter 2021/2022, as reported by * echo24.de.
Polar vortex split likely in winter 2021/2022 – too little sea ice in the Arctic
The extent of the Arctic sea ice reached its minimum on September 16 this year at 4.72 million square kilometers, according to the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). That was 1.54 million square kilometers more than in the previous negative record year 2012, according to meereisportal.de. Nevertheless, the area of the sea ice is relatively very small. It is the twelfth lowest level of a 43-year-old satellite acquisition, said the NSIDC, as reported by wetter.de.
The American weather model (NOAA) is now also forecasting an increasingly colder winter 2021/2022 – hopes for a White Christmas 2021 * and generally a lot of snow in the next few months are increasing. A few weeks ago, the NOAA model predicted a winter that was too warm – now this forecast has changed not only for Germany, but now for all of Europe.
Winter weather in Germany: Little sea ice favors polar vortex split
“December could be completely normal throughout Europe, so not too cold, but also not too warm,” explains meteorologist Dominik Jung from wetter.net, referring to the NOAA model. That should still mean a relatively cold winter, because the winter months have been too warm in recent years. Average winter temperatures should meanwhile make us shiver.
Polar vortex
There are two polar vortices on our earth: one over the Arctic and one over the Antarctic. The polar eddies form in autumn and dissolve again in spring. They rotate against the direction of rotation of the earth. The polar vortex over the North Pole has an impact on the weather in Central Europe.
How the polar vortex will develop, when and whether a split will occur at all, cannot be precisely determined at this point in time. What is certain is that the less sea ice there is, the more likely that the polar vortex will split over the Arctic. Given the small amount of ice, the chances are good this year and an arctic winter could be expected in Germany. * echo24.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
List of rubric lists: © Karl-Josef Hildenbrand / dpa
