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According to Wunderground, Nice only hit 0°C during this cold snap. Since both Nice and Marseille are both on the Mediterranean coast, why is there such a huge difference in temperature? Different geography?
Nice is sheltered by mountain ranges from northern flows while to the north of Marseille lies much closer to the Rhône river valley where cool air from northeastern France can make its way down to the Mediterranean. There is a famous northern wind there, called "Mistral".
Maybe the most important factor here is that Nice airport, while cooler than the city itself, is nonetheless more representative of the city's climate than Marseille-Marignane airport. The latter is situated 30 km NW of the city center and is isolated from the sea by a small mountain range. It's less maritime than the city itself and is a poor indicator of what the city actually experiences.
Btw 20°F=-7°C, so Marseille-Marignane wasn't quite that cold.
Well, the AO is negative now, and has been for some time. The problem is that all of the cold air it's been dumping has gone to Europe, but there's still a lot of bite left to the polar air that's been sitting in the arctic, and when a favorable pattern emerges for North America, one should watch out. As long as we can keep the -AO and the NAO can go negative, we North Americans have a chance for some colder than usual conditions, and sure enough, a Western ridge has been shown to be emerging in the coming days and weeks. So the potential still exists, and if such a pattern can emerge would mean colder, stormier times ahead for points in the southern part of the continent.
Also consider that the U.S. has been practically the only warm spot in the entire Northern Hemisphere - everywhere else is colder than normal, and with a more favorable wintry pattern that may emerge, the last shoe just might drop. If the polar lows go wild as they are in Europe right now, there may be some sort of super-period for winter all around the world in the later part of the season (February-April). If so it would be consistent with a general cooler trend in temperatures over the last 5 years, and a trend towards colder, stormier winters. And it would be consistent with the massive and unheard-of snowy owl migration recently, which, if this isn't a fluke and they say very far south, would suggest nothing less than a new glacial period.
I guess any coldies in the UK including myself should feel thankful I guess after reading this
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Italy's industry minister has said the gas situation in the country is "certainly critical" and that consumption hit a record high on Sunday, raising alert levels.
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France has apparently said it is heading to break its power demand record and is importing power from the UK
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