With the nation currently facing one of the most brutal winters in recent years, it looks like there is not much hope for milder winters in the future.
Researchers say that due to a shift in jet stream patterns, which are strips of strong wind, the Northern Hemisphere may see harsher winters in the coming years, the BBC reported.
The research, presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago, connected the change in jet streams to temperatures warming in the Arctic. Because temperatures in the Arctic have been rising twice as fast as the rest of the world, the jet streams are weaker, the BBC reported.
The jet streams then slow down and linger, causing the weather to remain the same for extended periods of time.
"This does seem to suggest that weather patterns are changing and people are noticing that the weather in their area is not what it used to be," Jennifer Francis, a professor at Rutgers University, told the BBC.
The slow jet streams have made the weather in the United Kingdom and freezing temperatures in North America particularly severe, lasting longer than normal.
"We can expect more of the same and we can expect it to happen more frequently," Francis told the BBC.
In reverse, the changing jet streams have caused cold weather to travel south and warm weather to move north. This is the case in Alaska and Scandinavia, which have seen warmer than normal temperatures this winter, the BBC reported.
Francis said it's hard to pinpoint the exact reason for the weaker jet streams.
"The Arctic has been warming rapidly only for the past 15 years," Francis told the BBC. "Our data to look at this effect is very short and so it is hard to get a very clear signal.
"But as we have more data I do think we will start to see the influence of climate change," Francis said.
