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Atmospheric circulation patterns associated with extreme cold winters in the UK
Author(s) -
Burgess Madlen L.,
Klingaman Nicholas P.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
weather
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.467
H-Index - 40
eISSN - 1477-8696
pISSN - 0043-1656
DOI - 10.1002/wea.2476
Subject(s) - citation , library science , circulation (fluid dynamics) , history , reading (process) , meteorology , computer science , geography , political science , engineering , law , aerospace engineering
This study examines the atmospheric circulation patterns and surface features associated with the seven coldest winters in the U.K. since 1870, using the 20th Century Reanalysis. Six of these winters are outside the scope of previous reanalysis datasets; we examine them here for the first time. All winters show a marked lack of the climatological southwesterly flow over the UK, displaying easterly and northeasterly anomalies. Six of the seven winters (all except 1890) were associated with a negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation; 1890 was characterised by a blocking anticyclone over and northeast of the UK.