 Several studies have suggested that rapid arctic warming associated with climate change might be linked to recent harsh winters in some mid-latitude regions. With limited compelling evidence, however, the idea remains controversial. This study, using observational data and model experiments, suggests that warm conditions in two distinct regions in the arctic ocean separately induce large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns that favor severe winters in two mid-latitude regions, extra tropical eastern North America and East Asia. This suggests that improved understanding of the consequences of the spatial variation in arctic warming may improve the prediction of extreme winter weather in these regions and help reduce its impact on the people living in the affected regions. To investigate the connection between arctic warming and these cold, mid-latitude winters, the researchers examined data derived from winter weather observations from 1979 to 2014. They identified two arctic ocean regions that have been warming quickly since 1998 in autumn and winter, one off Russia's northwest coast in the Barents Kara Sea and the other off its northeast coast in the East Siberian Chukchi Sea. Cold winter temperatures in East Asia were found to follow warm temperatures in the Barents Kara Sea by approximately 15 days, and cold temperatures in North America followed warm temperatures in the East Siberian Chukchi Sea region by approximately five days. To determine whether large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns might help explain these findings, sea-level air pressure observations were taken into account. Warming over the Barents Kara Sea region was associated with negative air pressure anomalies over the central arctic and strong positive anomalies over western Russia. This pressure pattern causes anti-cyclonic or clockwise flow, transporting cold air into extra tropical East Asia. Meanwhile, warming in the East Siberian Chukchi Sea region was associated with a strong positive air pressure anomaly near Alaska, increasing the frequency of North Pacific atmospheric blocking events. These blocking events bring cold arctic air to eastern and central North America. A key component of this study was to confirm these results using 39 different climate models along with specialized climate model experiments. Overall, the results of this study showed a surprising level of consistency between such a large set of models and the observations, which suggests that the two distinct arctic regions have pronounced effects on winter temperatures and atmospheric circulation in extra tropical East Asia and eastern North America. This research may therefore represent a first step towards improving the seasonal prediction of winter weather in these regions and guiding risk assessments of future extreme events.