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This morning I nearly tripped over the snowboard our neighbours have left in the hall. Nothing odd about that if you live in Chamonix.
But I don’t. I live in Newquay.
For one weird night at the peak of the #BeastfromtheEast event it snowed enough in Cornwall for the all the ex-seasonaires to relive their youth carving a bit of fresh pow on the golf course. The Red Lion pub made for an ideal aprés venue and for one night only skis, snowboards, sledges and surfboards were littered around the place.
It was a joy. Fun was the order of the day. Folks were sledging down streets in Falmouth. Sure the snow was a pain in the derriere for a lot of folks, but if you got the chance to enjoy it, rather than be frustrated by it, it tapped into the thing we all get from surfing: the thrill of the slide.
Surfing is fun. If the insane act of riding a wave on a plank doesn’t put a smile on your dial then you’re doing it wrong.
Much as the snow day was a blast it owed its origins to something a bit more concerning. In basic terms the polar air couldn’t be arsed to stay at the North Pole and decided to come on a weekender to the shock of us Northern European folks.
The Arctic has been so warm scientists are calling it a heatwave; which considering it doesn’t even get any sunshine until March is pretty nuts. Overall it’s been 20C higher than the average for the last 50 years. Siberia has been 35C above historical averages. Which isn’t good. As thawing tundra releases methane, which is a greenhouse gas, and that could kick off a feedback loop. The sea ice as well has been at a record low extent since satellite observations began. The polar vortex, a high level wind, normally keeps the cold polar air in check but thanks to some sudden stratospheric warming it all went arse about face and the normal westerly jet stream got a massive kink in it sending all the polar fun right into our grills.
The science boffins are concerned.