Rockies, not the Gulf Stream, give us our mild climate

Scruff

interesing tidbit from todays Irish Independent:

GENERATIONS of schoolchildren raised on the belief that Ireland's mild winters and cool summers are due to the Gulf Stream were misinformed, scientists have claimed.

For decades, our teachers have told us that the warm ocean current flowing from the Gulf of Mexico and past our west coast was responsible for our moderate climate, but now scientists say it owes far more to the Rocky Mountains 4,000 miles away.

Using weather data gathered over the past 50 years and computer models to describe how heat is shunted around the globe, they discovered that the contribution of the Gulf Stream was negligible compared with the influence of warm southerly winds originating in the Rockies.

These winds play a big role in explaining why winters in Ireland could be anything up to 15c or 20c warmer than the same latitude in eastern North America.

"Belief in the benign role of the Gulf Stream is so widespread that is has become folklore," said Richard Seager, the scientist who led the study at Columbia University in New York.

Mr Seager said the textbooks were wrong because they put the role of the Gulf Stream first of all and gave the impression it was the dominant impact.

Several recent studies have suggested that global warming might slow down or even stop the Gulf Stream, so bringing a far more variable climate to Europe.

But Dr Seager's study, published in the current issue of the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, suggests that the Gulf stream accounts for no more than 10pc of the winter temperature differences between Ireland and Newfoundland in Canada.

The scientists found the real reason for our mild weather was: first, there is a genuine maritime effect of being surrounded by a relatively warm body of water, but this has nothing to do with the Gulf Stream; second, this maritime influence is bolstered by south-westerly winds bringing a warm air mass from the south. These winds would not blow if the Rockies did not exist.