Is the cold center in Jan. & Feb. 1940 near the naval activities a piece of evidence for a causal link?

After only four months of fierce naval war in the North and Baltic sea there was suddenly the extreme winter of 1939/40. The winter turned to arctic conditions from Southern England to Stockholm. That was completely unexpected.  A.J. Drummond, a scientist from Kew Observatory at Richmond, expressed surprise at this unusual phenomenon in 1943 when he wrote: “The present century has been marked by such a wide-spread tendency towards mild winters that the “old–fashioned winters”, of which one has heard so much, seemed to have disappeared for ever. The sudden arrival at the end of 1939 of what was considered to be the beginning of a series of cold winters was therefore all the more surprising. Since the winters of 1878-79, 1879-80 and 1880-81, there have never been such severe winters, three in succession, as those of 1939-40, 1940-41 and 1941-42.”

The severity and the most affected area by extreme low temperatures over the two winter months January & February 1940 are well illustrated in the shown image. The cold corridor stretches from Oxford  via the North and Baltic Sea to Vologda.

Chapter: 2_16

Book Page: 71b

File: 949_Tprofile_W_E

Image: 2010/seaclimate.com