I try to do everything my teachers tell me to so I’ll get good grades, especially in science, where I can use all the extra credit I can get. So when my meteorology class instructor, AccuWeather’s Joe Bastardi, tells me I should post something for all to study, you bet I’m going to do it.

As you’ll learn at this link from NASA, the dominant current cold temperatures we’re having (as well as warm ones we’ve had in the past that were attributed to greenhouse-gas driven global warming) have a lot to do with oscillation patterns, as NASA explains:

If you live nearly anywhere in North America, Europe, or Asia, it’s no news that December 2009 and early January 2010 were cold. This image illustrates how cold December was compared to the average of temperatures recorded in December between 2000 and 2008. Blue points to colder than average land surface temperatures, while red indicates warmer temperatures. Much of the Northern Hemisphere experienced cold land surface temperatures, but the Arctic was exceptionally warm. This weather pattern is a tale-tell sign of the Arctic Oscillation.

More, if you care, at the linked post. The map is pretty impressive.