Vennskap News: Here We Go, Again!

The Christmas tree is out and most of those tree needles that remain stuck deeply into the carpet are being removed one by one. Things are coming back to normal, or is it?

The TV weatherman is showing the latest weather forecast and it looks like very familiar.

It seems to be the same one shown at this time--last year!

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There’s a big bulge from the north with warnings of bitter cold winds and below normal temperatures.Here we go again! Another ‘Polar Vortex’! National Weather Service meteorologist Paul Kocin, an expert on winter storms, said “This is a classic pattern of massive blasts of Arctic air hitting just about everyone east of the Rockies”. He said “It will rival last year’s January Arctic outbreak that introduced the phrase ‘polar vortex’ to America”. This ‘vortex’ is a weather pattern made up of strong winds circulating around a low-pressure system. It usually stays up north, keeping the cold confined, but, lately, it strays away from its normal winter position over the Arctic because of a weakening jet stream, a belt of fast westerly winds that normally act as a boundary between cold northern air and warmer southern air. Global warming? Northern sea-ice is melting. Scientific reports are claiming the lack of sea ice strips the

Arctic ocean of the ice's insulating properties causing more heat to move from the water to the air. This, in turn, affects air pressure in the Arctic and changes the air movement around the region.This causes that polar vortex to weaken and the cold air can then spill southerly into our area. Remembering last year, California and Arizona in 2014 recorded their warmest years on record, while the midwest set low temperature records. Buffalo has already seen monstrous snowfall totals. Will 2015 be a repeat??

3 PM in the afternoon

If we are experiencing subnormal weather conditions, one would expect our overseas friends to be expecting the same treatment.

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Since November, Northern Norway is 'in the dark'

The sun not rising is the real definition of mørketiden, the Murky time!

Above the Arctic Circle the winter sun doesn’t even rise, and residents of Tromsø, Alta, etc . have to make do with an eery (yet beautiful, they say) purple polar night twilight for several weeks. A good reason to stay in bed, but doctors say “ too much sleep will make you tired.” However, Scandinavians seem to enjoy their winters. News from overseas doesn’t reflect this 'Polar thing', except that while cold air was allowed to spill into the US and Canada last January, more humid temperatures came to much of Europe. This, added to an already warmer than average winter, led to increased rainfall in countries including Norway and Finland. Oslo’s temperatures are rather moderate for a city located as far north as it is. The average low winter temperature in Oslo is only about minus 4 degrees Celsius (around 23

° Fahrenheit), which is a bit warmer than the winter temperatures of most American and European cities. Large parts of Norway had up to three times as much rain as normal, last January .This unusual warming situation caused hibernating bears to wake up early in Finland, while plants such as daffodils emerged as early as December 14th in Norway. The Olso forecast for January 8-10, 2014 was ‘Breezy! Morning rain, cloudy’. Wisconsin's forecast for January 8-10, 2015 currently reads ‘Bitter cold, 2 or more inches of snow expected, with wind chills of 15-30 degrees below.’