Under the weather with the weather (WEEK 10):

• 2 pieces of news about weather issues: 

Why the snow in parts of Europe was orange? 

The photos are surreal, like a Martian ski slope or a toasted marshmallow sky.

But why did some people in Eastern Europe last week see the world in sepia tones? The answer lies hundreds of miles away.

The orange-brown filter applied briefly to that part of the world was caused by dense Saharan dust kicked into the air and swept north, experts said.

The process began when a polar jet stream made its way farther south than usual last week, bringing the strong winds and thunderstorms needed to whip up the dust, according to Tyler Roys, a meteorologist with AccuWeather.

“A trail of storms have been going through Italy, the Balkans, Ukraine and into western Russia, and finally this last storm that finally moved through, an area of lower pressure closer to the northern coast of Libya, helped pull the dust-up,” he said in a phone interview.

(From https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/27/world/europe/orange-snow.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FWeather&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection ).

Hot Times in the Arctic. 

In late February, a large portion of the Arctic Ocean near the North Pole experienced an alarming string of extremely warm winter days, with the surface temperature exceeding 25 degrees Fahrenheit above normal.

These conditions capped nearly three months of unusually warm weather in a region that has seen temperatures rising over the past century as greenhouse gas concentrations (mostly carbon dioxide and methane) have increased in the atmosphere. At the same time, the extent of frozen seawater floating in the Arctic Ocean reached new lows in January and February in 40 years of satellite monitoring.

In recent years, the air at the Arctic Ocean surface during winter has warmed by over 5 degrees Fahrenheit above normal. So was this recent spate of warm weather linked to longer-term climate change, or was it, well, just the weather?

What we can say is this: Weather patterns that generate extreme warm Arctic days are now occurring in combination with a warming climate, which makes extremes more likely and more severe. What’s more, these extreme temperatures have had a profound influence on sea ice, which has become thinner and smaller in extent, enabling ships to venture more often and deeper into the Arctic.

(From https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/14/opinion/temperature-climate-students.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FWeather&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=6&pgtype=collection).

• 2 graphs or tables:

AVERAGE WEATHER IN LONDON

According to the temperature, the warm season lasts for 2.8 months, from June 15 to September 7, with an average daily high temperature of 69°F. The hottest day of the year is August 1, with an average high of 74°F and low of 60°F.

The cool season lasts for 4.0 months, from November 16 to March 18, with an average daily high temperature below 53°F. The coldest day of the year is February 7, with an average low of 39°F and high of 47°F.

CLOUD COVER CATEGORIES IN PARIS

In Paris, the average percentage of the sky covered by clouds experiences significant seasonal variation over the course of the year.The clearer part of the year in Paris begins around May 7 and lasts for 5.2 months, ending around October 12. On July 22, the clearest day of the year, the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 62% of the time, and overcast or mostly cloudy 38% of the time.The cloudier part of the year begins around October 12 and lasts for 6.8 months, ending around May 7. On December 30, the cloudiest day of the year, the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy 74% of the time and clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 26% of the time.

Finally, this week I have watched several films in English in order to improve my level: 

LORENA CONESA MARTÍNEZ.