America is copping it at the moment

I'm not a GC weather guru but we don't get the 'lake effect' because our pond is a bit bigger than theirs. I'm now going back 60 years to what I was taught in school.

The flow of the Gulf Stream is the secret. The Gulf Stream and the Jet Stream are linked. The Gulf Stream is the current of warm water, in the Atlantic, that flows south and east and then north and east and affects the air above it (Jet Stream). This is rather an oversimplification!!

When the cold weather leaves the U.S. it is carried south on the Gulf/Jet Stream (its normal route) before heading north again. So by the time it reaches us it has been warmed up.

So our weather is brought from the south west (or west) and tends to be wetter and warmer. In recent years we've had the heavy rains that have caused us problems. This has been because the Gulf/Jet Stream has headed too far north before continuing east and has dropped even more water on us.

The east side of the UK gets more snow when we get the east wind (from northern Europe) but the west side is usually protected by the air from the Gulf Stream.

All this is part of the North Atlantic Drift.

http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/reports/wxfacts/North-Atlantic-Drift-Gulf-Stream.htm

 

Wow!! It appears from your picture that we've had a bit of Continental Drift without anyone knowing!

 

Is that what it was? I thought it was a film projection from 'Planet of the Apes'!