In fact, write authors Gregory Zielinski of the University of Maine and Barry Keim of the University of New Hampshire, we would do better to look east to explain this year's winter cold. Atmospheric circulation over the North Atlantic, a pattern known as the North Atlantic Oscillation or NAO, has a stronger influence over the region's winter weather than does El Nino. And this year's NAO combined with the air flow pattern from the Pacific across North America to bring cold arctic air from the Northwest into New England.
That's one of the practical observations in the book published in 2003 by the University of New England Press. Zielinski is the Maine State Climatologist and an associate research professor in the Institute for Quaternary and Climate Studies. Keim is the New Hampshire State Climatologist and a member of the Climate Change Research Center at the University of New Hampshire.
"What we want people to understand," says Zielinski, "is the variability of New England's weather. Our weather can vary more over a relatively small geographic area than weather almost anywhere else in the country. To confirm that, you only need to look at the plant hardiness zones for New England. We go from zone 7 on Cape Cod to zone 3 in northern Maine. That's a huge change in a few hundred miles."
Zielinski and Keim have pegged their text to the practical experiences of New England people. For example, instead of the generic four seasons of the year, they explain New England's annual cycle in terms of skiing, coping with mud, enjoying beaches and looking at foliage.
They present the basics, information about the causes of daily, annual and multi-year variations in temperatures and precipitation. But they also discuss trends over the past century and address the potential for regional changes related to global warming. There is evidence, says Zielinski, for a climatic boundary that separates Maine from the rest of New England. Records for the past century support a slight warming of the average temperature across much of New England. At a state level, Maine has seen a slight cooling, although coastal areas of the Pine Tree State act more like the rest of the region.
The book is illustrated with photographs, graphs and maps that will help dedicated weather buffs and casual observers to understand the forces at work behind the weather. It is available at the publisher's Web site, www.upne.com.