Recently, I happened to come across articles online [LINK] clarifying that there are some competing explanations for why the climate of Europe immediately to the east of the Atlantic Ocean is milder in the winter than the climate of North America at similar latitudes immediately to the west of the Atlantic Ocean but that the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean only plays a minimal role. It got me to think whether I have unwittingly repeated the myth of the importance of the Gulf Stream for the climate of Europe in recent blog posts like my most recent one about climate types [LINK]. Having gone through that blog post, I can say more confidently that I did not repeat that myth with respect to the big picture of Europe's climate, but there may have been certain aspects of Europe's climate (especially in eastern Europe) for which I overstated the effect of the Gulf Stream, so I want to set the record straight in an effort to not spread known misinformation or myths as if they were facts. Follow the jump to see more details. Again, I am not a trained climatologist or meteorologist; I can't guarantee that this information is accurate, and I can only say that my intuitions seem through my limited understanding to align with superficial aspects of more detailed explanations.
