March 2013 snow in the UK and the North Sea .
Did human activities contributed?
Posted: 26 March 2013 (ocl 10_2)

by Dr. Arnd Bernaerts

„You might have heard we’ve had a bit of snow in the UK in the last few days”, opens Verity Jones her post,  titled: “Master of understatement” at “diggingintheclay” today (HERE), reproducing a map by BBS/Met showing the snow areas (Fig. 1): That is an exceptional situation in late March. Rightly the post requires a proper recording by Met Office.  Other wonder how this scenario fist into a global warming world.

This big surprise should address the question, how such a weather phenomenon can happen, and why science is still not able to explain the underlying mechanism, which has caused the situation. Already many suggestions are in the air, NAO, Jet-Stream, too low ice-cover in the Barents Sea, but little about the role of the oceans in general and the North- and Baltic Sea in particular.

 Let’s have a look at the North Sea , which has been cold in March Fig. 2 & 3 (see also a recent post HERE)

 During March North Sea SST anomalies increased to a very significant low level (Fig. 4 & 5). The impact on adjacent countries will be significantly, when moisture and cold air clash. This had been the case  in the UK during the last weekend (Fig. 1) and may continue as ITV/UK reports: “Snow could affect central Britain for up to 36 hours” [Last updated Tue 26 Mar 2013] :

  ____”A band of heavy rain spreading Northwards across the UK will hit the cold air that has been with us all week, turning to snow through the early hours of this morning. Snow will be heavy and persistant for some, especially in the north west . The snow could affect a broad swathe of central Britain for up to 36 hours, with the risk of severe disruption to transport and power supplies.”; 
The text is supported by Figures 6 & 7.   

 The Met-Office forecast for today and tomorrow is given in Fig. 8. A  contributing link between the sub-cold North Sea  conditions (Fig. 2-5) and the wintry March in north-west Europe can be easily be established. What meteorologist/climatologist should now be able to explain, why the North Sea and westerly Baltic are so cold, and whether it is partly due to anthropogenic causes. At this time of the year the regional sea areas have lost the entire heat stored during the previous summer. Any human activities, whether shipping, fishing, off-shore wind farms will significantly increase evaporation and cooling down the sea water.  It seems time to know exactly how much human activity in adjacent sea areas has contributed to the extraordinary weather condition from London to Moscow during March 2013.

Winter 2012/13; North- and Baltic Sea related Essyas:

The cold March 2013 and any anthropogenic contribution
needs to be investigated and explained!

 Material winter 2012/13 and discussion at :

23. April 2013: Met-Off loose talk on cold March 2013? North and Baltic Sea should not be ignored! (ocl_9-8)
11. April 2013: 'Urgent' need to see if Arctic affects UK extreme cold? No! MetOffice should investigate the impact of human activities in the North- and Baltic Sea ! (co_9-4) 
03 April 2013: Did the cold March 2013 came from Siberia ? A not well founded claim! (ocl_9-9) 
29 March 2013: Cold March 2013 in company with March 1942 & 1917 (co 10-2)  
27. March 2013: Strong Start – Strong Ending; Winter 2012/13. About the Role of North- and Baltic Sea (2007seatraining 1310)
26. March 2013; March 2013 snow in the UK and the North Sea . Did human activities contributed? (ocl 10_2) 
21 March 2013; Cold March 2013 in UK and North Europe science should be able to explain! (ocl_10-3) 
07 March 2013:  Winter 2012/13 for Northern Europe is over! The Baltic and North Sea will prevent a surprise in March! (ocl-10_4)
19. January 2013: Northern Europe's bulwark against Asian cold from 19-31. (oc_12-8)
14. January 2013: North- and Baltic Sea influence Europe ’s winter 2012/2013 until now. (ocl_12_6) 
09 December 2012 (+ 21 & 26 Dec) : Are we heading to severe Baltic Sea ice conditions by 30th December 2012? (2007seatraining)

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