Germany threatens massive cold snap: "Coldest December in the last ten years"

A low pressure area in the Arctic has a decisive influence on how cold the winter gets in Germany.

Current turmoil at the North Pole brings experts to the conclusion: It's going to be icy!

Munich - frosty prospects! How warm or cold a winter in Germany gets depends primarily on the so-called polar vortex. The low pressure area hangs over the Arctic and bundles ice-cold air of up to minus 80 degrees there - but if the vortex breaks up, the arctic cold escapes to the northern hemisphere as far as Germany. According to meteorologists, there are several reasons that this will happen in the coming weeks and months.

It sounds paradoxical: The weather in Germany becomes arctic when the ice-cold polar vortex is weak.

Then the chance increases that its polar cold air will break out to the south.

It has long been known that this crucial cold air zone is weak this year.

One reason for this lies in the Arctic Ocean - or not: there is no ice in the sea at the North Pole.

This in turn weakens the vortex and increases the chances of a so-called polar vortex split.

A weak polar vortex causes a cold snap in Germany - that's behind it

The fact that the polar vortex is weak this year, especially at the beginning of winter, also increases the probability of a split, explains meteorologist Veronika Krieger at the news magazine

. And then, if it were actually complicated enough, high winds also come into play. If he turns around and suddenly comes from the East instead of the West, one speaks of the “Berlin phenomenon”. This is exactly what is currently happening over North America and is disrupting the polar vortex.

From all these factors, meteorologist Jan Schenk from

deduces

that it will remain mild and windy in November due to a brief resurgence of the vortex, but will be bitterly cold in December due to renewed severe disturbances.

"We're relatively sure about that," he says in a video.

Snow is also possible.

Cold snap in December: Meteorologist predicts “pretty hard winter”

Enough with the theory: “In December the temperatures drop.

It could be one of the coldest December in ten years.

This means that a white Christmas is definitely possible, ”explains Schenk.

The climate models suggest that this will continue in January, albeit in a weaker form.

“It could be a pretty harsh winter,” says the meteorologist.

List of rubric lists: © Sachelle Babbar via www.imago-images.de