Europe Could Be 9 Degrees Warmer By The End Of The Century

Right now, the U.S. is in another winter storm sweeping across the country, so the warming of the earth is probably something many people in our instant gratification society are not immediately concerned with. But note that the warming of the arctic is causing a weakening of the winds around the arctic, and allowing for more frequent southward intrusions of masses of cold air, such as we are having now.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/12/03/3012151/europe-climate-change/

By Katie Valentine on December 3, 2013

Europe could be up to 9 degrees Fahrenheit warmer by 2100, according to new research.

The research, which was conducted by 27 institutions and published this week in two scientific journals, found that by the end of the century, Europe could see average temperatures rise by 1 to 5 degrees Celsius, or 1.8 to 9.0 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s warmer than the IPCC’s most recent prediction of 0.3 to 4.8 degrees Celsius of average global warming by century’s end.

The research also predicts an increase in heatwaves in south and central Europe and intense rainfall and droughts in Europe overall. That prediction is in line with previous research on extreme weather and climate change and is also in line with some of the extreme weather Europe has dealt with over the last decade. This summer, in the midst of a heatwave that baked much of Europe, Austria set an all-time high temperature record after one town hit 104.9 degrees F. And in 2003, a major heatwave caused 70,000 deaths in Europe.