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Winter: 2 Cause
Winter: 2 Cause
Winter: 2 Cause
2 Cause
See also: Eect of Sun angle on climate
A snow-covered park in front of the Cathedral of Learning in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, during winter
The tilt of the Earths axis relative to its orbital plane plays
a big role in the weather. The Earth is tilted at an angle of
23.44 to the plane of its orbit, and this causes dierent
latitudes on the Earth to directly face the Sun as the Earth
moves through its orbit. It is this variation that primarily
brings about the seasons. When it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere, the Southern Hemisphere faces the Sun
more directly and thus experiences warmer temperatures
than the Northern Hemisphere. Conversely, winter in the
Southern Hemisphere occurs when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted more toward the Sun. From the perspective of an observer on the Earth, the winter Sun has a
lower maximum altitude in the sky than the summer Sun.
The manifestation of the meteorological winter (freezing temperatures) in the northerly snowprone parallels
is highly variable depending on elevation, position versus
1 Etymology
marine winds and the amount of precipitation. A case of
point is in Canada which is a country normally associated
The English word winter comes from the Proto-Indo- with its tough winters. Winnipeg on the Great Plains at a
European word Wend, that stood for water.[1]
relative distance from large bodies of water has a January
1
Meteorological reckoning
Tierra del Fuego, Argentina
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white (in order to be confused with snow) and thus
retains its cryptic coloration year-round. Examples
are the rock ptarmigan, Arctic fox, weasel, whitetailed jackrabbit, and mountain hare.
Some fur-coated mammals grow a heavier coat during the winter; this improves the heat-retention qualities of the fur. The coat is then shed following the
winter season to allow better cooling. The heavier
coat in winter made it a favorite season for trappers,
who sought more protable skins.
Snow also aects the ways animals behave; many
take advantage of the insulating properties of snow
by burrowing in it. Mice and voles typically live under the snow layer.
Some annual plants never survive the winter. Other annual plants require winter cold to complete their life cycle,
this is known as vernalization. As for perennials, many
small ones prot from the insulating eects of snow by
being buried in it. Larger plants, particularly deciduous
trees, usually let their upper part go dormant, but their
roots are still protected by the snow layer. Few plants
bloom in the winter, one exception being the owering
plum, which owers in time for Chinese New Year.
The process by which plants become acclimated to cold
weather is called hardening.
In Europe, the winters of early 1947,[25] February 1956, 19621963, 19811982 and 20092010
Winter in Rego Park, Queens, New York
were abnormally cold. The UK winter of 1946
1947 started out relatively normal, but became one
the unpredictable weather of the Little Ice Age that
of the snowiest UK winters to date, with nearly conlasted for several centuries (from about 1300 to
tinuous snowfall from late January until March.
1900). The persistently cold, wet weather caused
In the eastern United States and Canada, the wingreat hardship, was primarily responsible for the
ter of 20132014 and the second half of February
Great Famine of 13151317, and strongly con2015 were abnormally cold. However, the winter of
tributed to the weakened immunity and malnutrition
20142015 did have a balmy December and a norleading up to the Black Death (13481350).
mal January.
16001602, extremely cold winters in Switzerland
and Baltic region after eruption of Huaynaputina in
Peru in 1600.
7 Other historically signicant
winters
13101330, many severe winters and cold, wet summers in Europe the rst clear manifestation of
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tion of Bosphorus froze over.
1690s, extremely cold, snowy, severe winters. Ice
surrounded Iceland for miles in every direction.
17791780, Scotlands coldest winter on record,
and ice surrounded Iceland in every direction (like
in the 1690s). In the United States, a record veweek cold spell bottomed out at 20 F (29 C) at
Hartford, Connecticut, and 16 F (27 C) in New
York City. Hudson River and New Yorks harbor
froze over.
17831786, the Thames partially froze, and snow
remained on the ground for months. In February
1784, the North Carolina was frozen in Chesapeake
Bay.
17941795, severe winter, with the coldest January
in the UK and lowest temperature ever recorded in
London: 21 C (6 F) on 25 January. The cold
began on Christmas Eve and lasted until late March,
with a few temporary warm-ups. The Severn and
Thames froze, and frost fairs started up again. The
French army tried to invade the Netherlands over its
frozen rivers, while the Dutch eet was stuck in its
harbor. The winter had Easterlies (from Siberia) as
its dominant feature.
18131814, severe cold, last freeze-over of Thames,
and last frost fair. (Removal of old London Bridge
and changes to rivers banks made freeze-overs less
likely.)
18831888, colder temperatures worldwide, including an unbroken string of abnormally cold and brutal
winters in the Upper Midwest, related to the explosion of Krakatoa in August 1883. There was snow
recorded in the UK as early as October and as late
as July during this time period.
9 Mythology
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10
Festivals
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See also
REFERENCES
Volcanic winter
Winter City
Winter Olympic Games
Winter sport
Winter War
Christmas
New Year
Valentines Day
12 References
[1] http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=winter&
allowed_in_frame=0
[2] Canadian Climate Normals 1981-2010 Station Data for
Winnipeg. Environment Canada. Retrieved 8 August
2015.
[3] Canadian climate normals 1981-2010 Station Data for
Vancouver. Environment Canada. Retrieved 8 August
2015.
[4] UK climate - Station Map. Met Oce. Retrieved 8
August 2015.
[5] Huttner, Paul (6 December 2007). Instant meteorological winter. Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved 22 December 2011.
[6] Winters Been Here Despite What the Calendar Says.
NOAA Magazine. 22 December 2003. Retrieved 22 December 2011.
[7] Glossary of Meteorology (June 2000). Diamond Dust.
American Meteorological Society. Retrieved 21 January
2010.
[8] Kenneth G. Libbrecht (2001). Morphogenesis on Ice:
The Physics of Snow Crystals (PDF). Engineering & Science (California Institute of Technology) (1): 12. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
[9] Vinter (in Swedish). SMHI. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
Summer
Arctic warfare
Cold wave
Fimbulwinter
Global cooling
Global warming
Nuclear winter
Pineapple Express
Siberian Express
[15] Heck, Andre (2006). Organizations and strategies in Astronomy Volume 7. Springer. p. 14. ISBN 1-4020-53002.
[16] winter. (2009). In Encyclopdia Britannica. Retrieved
13 May 2009, from Encyclopdia Britannica Online
[17] solstice. (2009). In Encyclopdia Britannica. Retrieved
13 May 2009, from Encyclopdia Britannica Online
[18] Meteorological Glossary (Sixth ed.). London: HMSO.
1991. p. 260. ISBN 0-11-400363-7.
[19] Frste vinterdag. (2009). The Norwegian Meteorological
Institute. Retrieved 31 August 2009.
[20] . XVI
XVII . .: , 2005. 162 .
ISBN 5-9578-2773-8, in Russian
[21] Meteorological Glossary. Retrieved 21 June 2009 from
Australian Bureau of Meteorology
[22] Hamilton, Daniel (2 June 2009). Images from around
Australia on rst day of Winter 2009. Abc.net.au. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
[23] Michael Allaby (1999). A Dictionary of Zoology. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
[24] Cormac Grda (2009). "Famine: a short history".
Princeton University Press. p.23. ISBN 0-691-12237-7
[25] Winter 1947 in the British Isles. winter1947.co.uk. Retrieved 22 December 2011.
[26] Grant, Ash (1 February 2010). Top 10 Worst Blizzards
U.S. History. Top 10 Worst Blizzards U.S. History. Ash
Grant. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
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Further reading
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External links
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