Breaking Weather: The year without winter, but where’s the cold? Talk to the expert
The year without winter, but where has the cold gone? After a fleeting icy apparition, Winter is gone: From December 18th, the African anticyclone dominated the Italian scene, bringing temperatures of 10/12°C above average, melting the little snow on the Apennines and causing dense fog and smog in the Po Valley.
But where has the cold gone? Will come back? Lorenzo TediciMeteorologist of the site www.iLMeteo.it, answers this question, leaving few illusions for lovers of the cold, at least for the next 10/15 days.
In the first half of December, an icy tongue from Russia had taken possession of central-northern Europe and partly also of northern Italy: we even remember the frozen sea on the English coasts, the heavy snow in the Alps and the white flakes of Turin.
The cold then retreated towards the Arctic Circle, bringing snowfall in Lapland, flakes between Iceland and Scotland and temperatures of -25°C between Sweden and Finland.
The cold then returned to its base: having descended from the Russian Arctic lands, having crossed Central and Northern Europe from east to west, it again flowed into the polar vortex.
What is meant by polar vortex and how will it affect the weather in the coming days?
By polar vortices we mean that low-pressure area filled with icy air, which is usually found beyond the Arctic Circle, i.e. beyond the 70th parallel: Let us imagine this vortex as a “merry-go-round” that rotates more or less quickly with the earth’s rotation.
Have you ever tried to get off a spinning carousel? Then you will have seen that it is much easier to get off when the carousel slows down.
Here even the polar vortex behaves in a similar way: as it slows, the frigid air manages to sink toward lower latitudes, toward the United States, toward central-southern Europe, or toward southern Siberia and China, to name just a few.
For a few weeks now, the polar vortex has been strong, robust and “spinning fast”: cold air is unlikely to be able to descend to our latitudes for at least 10/15 days.
So winter without winter?
It’s not safe. As suddenly happened in the USA and Canada over the Christmas holidays, a lobe of the polar vortex could detach and sink southwards, which is currently not out of the question for February and March, while January could drag on sluggishly and warm almost to the end : If the If winter came in February and/or March, it would follow in the footsteps of the frigid 2012, dry and mild through January, capable of dumping yards of snow in the final months of the season.
Coming back to today, how is the weather expected in Italy?
Abnormal heat until Saturday with fog and smog in the Po Valley and sun in the mountains. However, as of Sunday 8th January, a weather reversal could take us towards Autumn after tasting anticipation of Spring in the mid-North and near summer in the South.
Indeed, widespread rains are expected for at least two or three days, with snow in the Alps over 900 meters and strengthening winds. So let’s hope the Epiphany Wind carries all the smog away; At the moment pollution is very high in the Po Valley, but also in the main cities of the center and south.