The Economist UK - 28.03.2020

Sources: NASA GISTEMP; NOAA GHCND

*To March 23rd †Data are lower resolution above 82°N

Land-surface air temperature and ocean-surface temperature

Average from December 2019 to February 2020, change from average during same months from 1951-80

Average daily low temperature, by month

Selected cities, °C

The northern-hemisphere winter of 2019-20 was the warmest ever on land

EQUA

TOR

AR

CT

IC

CI

RC

EL

Oslo

To k y o

London

Boston Moscow

Novosibirsk

North Pole†

Anchorage

-1.1 0 Max 7.9

← Cooler Warmer →

Moscow

-10

-20

0

10

20

London

5

0

10

15

Novosibirsk

-30

-15

0

15

To k y o

0

10

-10 -5

20

30

Oslo

Coldest

months

Boston

Jul Jan Jun

Jul Jan Jun Jul Jan Jun

Jul Jan Jun

Jul Jan Jun

Jul Jan Jun

0

10

-10

20

0

10

-10

-20

20

2019-20* 1951-80

average

95% confidence

interval

The EconomistMarch 28th 2020 85

T

he mostcommonly cited risks of cli-

mate change are natural disasters:

fiercer wildfires and hurricanes, bigger

floods and longer droughts. But one of the

most striking recent effects of global

warming has been unusually mild weather

in many parts of the world.

The northern-hemisphere winter that

ended on March 20th was the second-

warmest since records began, and the

warmest ever on land. The anomaly was

biggest in Europe and Asia, where average

temperatures from December to February

were 3.2°C (5.8°F) and 3.1°C above the aver-

age from 1951-80, and 0.8°C and 0.7°C above

those continents’ previous record highs.

After a normal autumn, temperatures

stayed close to their November levels for

months. In Boston, where daily lows in

January tend to hover around -6°C, the av-

erage minimum this January was 0°C; for

Tokyo the figures were 0°C and 5°C. By local

standards, the balmiest winter of all was in

Russia. Moscow’s average daily low in Jan-

uary was -2°C, far from the customary -13°C.

The winter-that-wasn’t of 2019-20 is not

yet a new normal. The main factor deter-

mining the severity of northern winters is

the “Arctic oscillation”: the relative pres-

sure of Arctic and sub-tropical air. When

pressure is higher in the Arctic, cold air

from the North Pole pushes south, bring-

ing harsh, dry winters to many places.

When pressure is higher towards the sub-

tropics, warm air pushes northwards, hem-

ming in cold air around the pole. These two

patterns flip back and forth irregularly.

For reasons that are not yet clear, pres-

sure in the sub-tropics this year was much

stronger than in the Arctic. And research-

ers have not yet determined how rising

temperatures affect the Arctic oscillation.

Until a few years ago, climate models tend-

ed to show pressure in the Arctic strength-

ening, reducing the amount of warming

during winter at temperate northern lati-

tudes. The latest models find the reverse.

However, climate change is still respon-

sible for anomalies like this one. At the av-

erage global temperature in 1950, a winter

this mild was all but impossible. In today’s

climate, such reprieves from the cold

should occur once every 11 years. And if glo-

bal warming continues on its current tra-

jectory, winters like this year’s could be-

come standard within a few decades.

Mild winters offer benefits. Heating is

cheaper, flu seasons are shorter and fewer

people die overall. But problems mount as

well. Without hard frosts, pests can survive

and multiply to attack crops more harshly.

Warmer winters are usually wetter, chang-

ing snowfall patterns. This can shrink the

snowpack that supplies rivers, and cause

floods. Even people who bemoan frigid

winters may miss them if they vanish. 7

Northern-hemisphere temperatures

stayed flat from November to March

Winter is not

coming

Graphic detailClimate change

Source: NASA GISTEMP

Northern-hemisphere land temperature in winter

Change from 1951-80 average, °C

3

2

1

0

-1

-2

↑ Warmer

↓Cooler

Record

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