The chief suspect behind these unusually dry past two months is an atmospheric pressure pattern called the Arctic Oscillation, which circles the high Northern Hemisphere. Its lower edge is known as the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Together, they influence the path and strength of the jet stream. The jet stream is a very strong air current that flows west to east across the northern hemisphere, altering temperature and precipitation as portions of it dip southward or crest northward. The NAO can either be negative or positive. At the beginning of December, it turned positive. A positive NAO oscillation causes a stronger than normal Azores High to prevail out over the Atlantic. On the other hand, the Icelandic Low is abnormally weak. As a result of this, the jet stream is keeping to the north. The Azores High is so strong that its effects are being as far north as Scandinavia. This setting favours the formation of persistent high pressure over large swathes of Europe. This weekend, an extremely strong high pressure system has formed over eastern parts of the north Atlantic. This expanded over the British Isles, and should continue to creep across western and central Europe this week. A large part of Europe will experience a pressure reading of between 1030hPa and 1045hPa. Some regions could see up to 1050hPa as well. These readings are record-breaking for many regions.

Mean sea-level pressure over the Maltese Islands will be of 1036hPa at its highest ed-hrvatski.com. This would come extremely close to breaking the record. The highest pressure ever measured by our weather station in Għarb was of 1035.8hPa on 9th January 2015.

This extremely high atmospheric pressure may cause the most sensitive of us to experience an odd sensation of ear popping, especially on Tuesday 21/01. Ear popping is something we normally associate with being on an aeroplane. A change in atmospheric pressure can be felt in your ear. The inner ear is filled with fluid, and that fluid is sensitive to changes in atmospheric pressure. The pressure inside your ears takes time to acclimatise. When atmospheric pressure varies rapidly, you may feel a sensation of fullness or popping in the ears, as the pressure inside your ears acclimatises.