That depends on how you define ‘normal.’ The baseline has been creeping up as the planet warms.
Articles on Cold snap
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It has been particularly cold this week, with a record low temperature recorded in Tasmania. Such records are increasingly rare as average temperatures continue to rise.
New research shows climate change can drive sudden ocean cooling too. This can have devastating effects on marine life such as bull sharks and manta rays.
Cold snaps can affect everyday services and infrastructure, putting lives at risk.
The world can expect fewer severe cold events as average temperatures rise, but people still need to be prepared for wintery blasts.
How to protect your extremities to avoid frostbite in cold weather.
From dark dragonflies becoming paler to plants flowering earlier, some species are slowly evolving with the climate. Evolutionary biologists explain why few will evolve fast enough.
Cold snaps are becoming less and less likely as the world warms. But that doesn’t mean they don’t happen. An expert helps you put the colder-than-normal start to winter in context.
Top contributors
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Senior Researcher, Department of Physics, University of Oxford
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ARC Future Fellow and Associate Professor in Climate Science, ARC Centre of Excellence for 21st Century Weather, The University of Melbourne
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Researcher in marine ecology, James Cook University
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Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolution, Georgia Institute of Technology
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Professor of Anatomy, Lancaster University
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Professor of Climate Science, UMass Lowell
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Assistant Professor of Biology, University of Colorado Denver
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Professor of Global-Change Ecology, University of the Sunshine Coast
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Climate Projections Scientist, CSIRO
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Professor Emeritus of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, University of Michigan