Europe's Winter Shield Is Gone - And Gas Is At A 13-Year Low

A cold easterly spell in the forecast: would you know which warning to read, and your next step at home? https://themeridiandeskstore.com 15:06 GMT, Friday 6 November — The Arctic stratosphere. Britain's Met Office says a highly unusual disruption of the polar vortex is now under way, after the wind 30 km above the Arctic fell from 22.13 to 5.44 metres per second in eight days, less than half the previous record low for the date. If the winds reverse as forecast next week, it will be the earliest major sudden stratospheric warming on record. It arrives as EU gas storage sits at 73.8%, sixteen points below the five-year average and the lowest start to a winter since 2013. The reversal forecast for 9–11 November is only the first test, and what the atmosphere does in the weeks after it is still open. The Meridian Desk tracks the planet from the European side of the map — earthquakes, eruptions, floods, windstorms, heatwaves, and the space weather that lights up northern skies. Every video delivers the data, what Europe's own agencies are saying, and what comes next in twenty to twenty-five minutes. New videos three to four times a week. CHAPTERS 0:00 Introduction 0:33 The Met Office confirms the disruption 2:24 The wind above the Arctic collapses 4:56 The reversal forecast for next week 6:42 Earlier than any winter on record 8:24 Where the cold could reach 10:47 El Niño pulls the other way 12:26 Europe's gas storage shortfall 14:59 The morning Britain ran short of gas 16:11 Gas prices and Qatar's force majeure 17:30 What to watch in the coming weeks SOURCES Met Office warns of highly unusual polar vortex disruption (LBC) — https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/freezin... Polar vortex weakens weeks ahead of schedule (Euronews) — https://www.euronews.com/2026/11/06/p... Polar vortex winds at 60°N drop to 5.44 m/s (The Watchers) — https://watchers.news/2026/11/05/pola... Record-early sudden stratospheric warming and UK winter (Farming UK) — https://farming.co.uk/news/record-ear... Polar vortex forecast: record-early SSW (World Climate Service) — https://www.worldclimateservice.com/p... Met Office November snow outlook (Rus Tourism News) — https://www.rustourismnews.com/2026/1... Polar vortex record-early breakdown (Men's Journal) — https://www.mensjournal.com/news/pola... IEA: Europe's gas storage lowest since 2013 (Il Sole 24 Ore) — https://en.ilsole24ore.com/art/gas-st... IEA Global Gas Security Review findings (IndexBox) — https://www.indexbox.io/blog/iea-warn... Gaz : le stockage en Europe au plus bas depuis 2013 (DH) — https://www.dhnet.be/dernieres-depech... EU gas storage tracker, GIE AGSI+ data (Voltstack) — https://voltstack.energy/insights/eu-... European gas prices slide from four-year high (Trading and Investment News) — https://www.tradingandinvestmentnews.... TTF gas tops €97 as cold snap nears (TokenPost) — https://www.tokenpost.com/news/invest... This channel is for education and news analysis. Data comes from public scientific agencies; where something is unconfirmed or speculative, we say so. IMAGE SOURCES Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org #polarvortex #europegas