# England & Ireland are parallel to Labrador Canada. Why aren't they colder? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 20, 2005, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-ireland-are-parallel-to-labrador-canada-why-arent-they-colder/322487 "2005-09-20T03:25:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CBCD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@CBCD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBCD)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-ireland-are-parallel-to-labrador-canada-why-arent-they-colder/322487/21 "2005-09-20T13:31:02Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > Mostly it’s heat transfer via the [Gulf stream](http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycleoceans.html). As you can see from [this graph](http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/graphics/wcoceansgulfstream.jpg), the area around the UK is significantly warmer than the areas near Labrador at the same latitude. If the Gulf Stream grinds to a halt, as some theorize it may one day, Britains are screwed, weatherwise. Hey, maybe we could hit the Gulf Stream with a 20’s Style Death Ray, and see what happens to the Brits! Maybe we could be their New Overlords! ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-ireland-are-parallel-to-labrador-canada-why-arent-they-colder/322487/22 "2005-09-20T17:53:15Z")
> [@Random](#): > > That, and all the beer farts. You’ve obviously never been to St. Anthony, Newfoundland way up there on the northern tip of that island. Them folks can drink a bunch o’ beer, too. Ain’t much else to do in the winter months. 'Cept chase the mooses. And shovel snow, presuming it ain’t over the eaves and you can get outta the house. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-ireland-are-parallel-to-labrador-canada-why-arent-they-colder/322487/23 "2005-09-20T17:57:04Z")
I’ve always found it interesting that L.A.'s latitude is the same as North Africa’s. (I think the first major city in Africa at/near L.A.'s latitude is Casablanca.) ---
**Author:** ![yerba\_buena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/7ea924/32.png) [@yerba\_buena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yerba_buena)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-ireland-are-parallel-to-labrador-canada-why-arent-they-colder/322487/24 "2005-09-20T18:11:43Z")
> [@cantara](#): > > I’m sorry I don’t have a cite, but I recall hearing about the cycle of ice ages and that the long periods of warm weather between them was the cause of the ice ages. You will do better if you search by its scientific name … [North Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=north+atlantic+thermohaline+circulation). 😉 The premise isn’t as easy as most links make it out to be. As the name implies, the circulation is driven both by temperature (cold water sinking in the Arctic) and by salinity (salt water sinking in the tropics). The two forces oppose each other. Currently (nyuk nyuk nyuk), the surface-northward circulation dominates, that is, water flows northward along the surface, sinks in the Arctic, returns to the tropics along the bottom of the ocean, warms, and then rises. People speculate (and models predict) there exists another stable equilibrium for this system, where salt water sinks in the tropics, flows northward along the floor, rises, and then returns southward along the surface. This, of course, would have dramatic impact on global climate, and may have been the trigger for the last Ice Age. Recently, scare artists from the global warming side have taken this information and used it to try and convince people that if we melt ice, then the fresh water will somehow float and stop this circulation altogether. The scientific truth is that the surface-northward mode of the flow is a stable equilibrium - that is, given a small perturbation of the system, it will tend to even itself out and return to equilibrium. The amount of fresh water that we’d have to dump into the Arctic is absolutely enormous, and the system is unlikely to change because of a large perturbation. However, periodic influxes of destabilizing forces _could_ find a resonance in the system, gradually swinging it out of one equilibrium and into the other. Keep in mind that if this is true, salt water runoff from the Amazon basin (due to deforestation, farming, etc) is just as important as polar ice melting. The danger is real but not imminent. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-ireland-are-parallel-to-labrador-canada-why-arent-they-colder/322487/25 "2005-09-20T18:39:18Z")
I’m wondering why the OP is talking about England, but citing Britain. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-ireland-are-parallel-to-labrador-canada-why-arent-they-colder/322487/26 "2005-09-20T18:51:48Z")
> [@Futile Gesture](#): > > I’m wondering why the OP is talking about England, but citing Britain. Sorry. I forgot about the “Isles”. [British Isles](http://www.answers.com/topic/british-isles) The “British Isles” is also an old name for the British and Irish Lions. > [@](#): > > The British Isles consist of Great Britain, Ireland and a number of much smaller surrounding islands.The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of Europe consisting of Great Britain (that is England, Scotland, and Wales), Ireland and the many smaller adjacent islands. These islands form an archipelago of more than 6,000 islands, totalling 315,134 km² (121,674 square miles) of land. > > The archipelago has been referred to by a single name for over two thousand years, and the term British Isles derives from terms used by classical geographers to describe the island group. Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History (iv.xvi.102) records of Great Britain, "It was itself named Albion while all the islands about which we shall soon briefly speak were called the Britanniae. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-ireland-are-parallel-to-labrador-canada-why-arent-they-colder/322487/27 "2005-09-21T12:37:18Z")
> [@CBCD](#): > > Hey, maybe we could hit the Gulf Stream with a 20’s Style Death Ray, and see what happens to the Brits! Maybe we could be their New Overlords! I think you might find that a few Scandinavians will get mighty pissed off at you. We might even have to drag out that old gold helmet again. And you can be sure _you’ll_ be paying double air tax. :mad: No joking about turning the Gulf Stream, I need it to keep my feet warm. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Fridgemagnet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/22d042/32.png) [@Fridgemagnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fridgemagnet)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-ireland-are-parallel-to-labrador-canada-why-arent-they-colder/322487/28 "2005-09-21T12:54:58Z")
The Netherlands are pretty much level with the UK, yet Dutch winters are a good few degrees colder than in the UK. I think it’s because the British mainland hogs most of the heat from the Gulf Stream before it reaches Dutch shores. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-ireland-are-parallel-to-labrador-canada-why-arent-they-colder/322487.md?page=1)