Of special interest to our off-shore cruisers is this article from Tucson News Now by Dan Bronis.

The Gulf Stream is weakening, bad news for the East Coast
Posted: Apr 05, 2015 8:04 PM EDT
By Dan Bronis

TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) – The mild climate in Europe may soon be getting colder, matching the climate of the northeast United States. The reasoning for this looks to be the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Gulf Stream brings milder winters to Europe than what other places at the same latitude experience, especially in winter. But this could all be changing as it appears the Gulf Stream of the Atlantic Ocean is getting weaker, allowing deeper lows to move over Europe.

The Gulf Stream is a “river” of water in the Atlantic Ocean that rides up the East Coast of the United States into the northern Atlantic Ocean. This “river” is warmer than the surrounding water and can help bring warmer weather to Europe in winter. The Gulf Stream over the last century has weakened, allowing Europe to experience colder winters. With most of the weakening occurring since 1970.

Credit: NASA. The Gulf Stream riding north along the East Coast.

The Gulf Stream is not the only ocean stream in the world. Every ocean has streams of warm and cold waters, all of these play a major role on the climate of the Earth. Climate change has been debated on whether it would have an impact on these ocean “rivers” but it is becoming more clear that climate change is weakening and strengthening some of these streams.