Warm water brings ‘brrr!’ to NYC
Why is winter in New York City typically colder than winter in Porto, Portugal—after all, they have similar latitudes? Researchers say warm water is to blame.
Throughout northern Europe, average winter temperatures are at least 10 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than similar latitudes on the northeastern coast of the United States and the eastern coast of Canada. The same phenomenon happens over the Pacific, where winters on the northeastern coast of Asia are colder than in the Pacific Northwest.
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have now found a mechanism that helps explain these chillier winters—and the culprit is warm water off the eastern coasts of these continents.
Full story at Futurity.
Photo credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio; George Riggs
