Posted on 02/16/2014 10:15:55 AM PST by Redcloak
Chicago (AFP) - A warmer Arctic could permanently affect the pattern of the high-altitude polar jet stream, resulting in longer and colder winters over North America and northern Europe, US scientists say.
The jet stream, a ribbon of high altitude, high-speed wind in northern latitudes that blows from west to east, is formed when the cold Arctic air clashes with warmer air from further south.
The greater the difference in temperature, the faster the jet stream moves.
According to Jennifer Francis, a climate expert at Rutgers University, the Arctic air has warmed in recent years as a result of melting polar ice caps, meaning there is now less of a difference in temperatures when it hits air from lower latitudes.
"The jet stream is a very fast moving river of air over our head," she said Saturday at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
"But over the past two decades the jet stream has weakened. This is something we can measure," she said.
As a result, instead of circling the earth in the far north, the jet stream has begun to meander, like a river heading off course.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
2014 coldest since 1912.
What caused the “Polar Vortex” in 1912?
God...he's "in charge"
Joe Bastardi (who is big on weather history and trends) has written some stuff lately about how this cold year may predict a trend like we had in the late 70s.
It depends on where you are. Climate is sorta like a water balloon; squeeze it in once place and it pops out in another. For example, when it's warmer in the northern hemisphere, like it was after the last ice age, then it gets cooler and wetter in North Africa. In this case, warming the Arctic, and exposing the relatively warm water that's normally hidden under colder ice, and you see weather further south getting colder.
Now the real question is: Did Americans in their SUVs cause this? That's what St. Algore of Warmth would like you to believe. The answer is, of course, "Stop smoking meth, Mr. Vice-president". It was considerably warmer 8000 years ago, despite the lack of Ford Expeditions. And now we may be returning to that climate. But what was once thought of as the "Holocene climate optimum" is now something that St. Algore says we should avoid at all costs. Go figure.
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