Mother Jones: Why the Arctic Is Drunk Right Now

[geardaddy]

—By Chris Mooney
| Mon Jan. 6, 2014 9:29 AM GMT15 Greg Laden/ECMWF
Perhaps the best analogy yet for the insane cold weather now afflicting the US came from science blogger Greg Laden, who created the viral image above. "Go home, Arctic," it reads. "You're drunk."

When it comes to the reason why the United States is currently experiencing life-threatening cold—with temperatures in the negative-20s in the Upper Midwest, and wind chills much lower than that—that's actually not so far from the truth. "It's basically the jet stream on a drunken path going around the Northern Hemisphere," explains Rutgers University climate scientist Jennifer Francis. In other words, we're experiencing record-breaking cold temperatures because a wavy and elongated jet stream has allowed frigid Arctic air to travel much farther south than usual.

And according to Francis' research—which has drawn increasing attention in the past few years—we're seeing more of just this kind of jet stream behavior, thanks, at least in part, to the rapid warming of the Arctic.*

To understand how it works, it first helps to think of the jet stream as a river of air that flows from west to east in the Northern Hemisphere, bringing with it much of our weather. Its motion—sometimes in a relatively straight path, sometimes in a more loopy one—is driven by a difference in temperatures between the equator and the north pole. Southern temperatures are of course warmer, and because warm air takes up more space than cold air, this leads to taller columns of air in the atmosphere. "If you were sitting on top of a layer of atmosphere and you were in DC, looking northward, it would be like looking down a hill, because it's warmer where you are," explains Francis.

The jet stream then flows "downhill," so to speak, in a northward direction. But it's also bent by the rotation of the Earth, leading to its continual wavy, eastward motion.

more at link: http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2014/01/did-global-warming-get-arctic-drunk

[daleanime]

1. K&R....

[geardaddy]

2. Thanks.

[Oscarmonster13]

3. awesome explanation...

(haven't finished it yet, but so far so good...)

The mild weather in the west is so strange here. We have enough cold for the ski resorts to make snow at night, but there is NO precipitation on schedule for the next 2 weeks and it's staying in the 50's

Personally, as much as I know it will suck in the summer with no water, I am really loving the break from winter this year! sorry, mother nature... :/

[truedelphi]

4. Yet climate experts told us ten years ago that it would be the Antarctic that

Would go first.

All I know is that day after day there are huge fleets of planes above my County. And contrails that don't disperse.

As far as these being "commercial" jets, how is it that in the three days before Christmas, the traditional busy time for the airlines each year, there was barely anything but a single prop airplane up there? (I live on the West Coast, so the weather on these three days was fine. And the sky was a bold October blue.)

Scientists in Scandinavia tell us the programs that I am talking about (that some here will tell me don't exist) are CAUSING at least 15 percent of the Global Climate change.

Meanwhile, the Weather Channel that used to, even four months ago, show the doppler satellite images for the entire Pacific Coast of the USA, shows a meaningless blank screen of weather.

I have been relying on this map (below) in order to figure out why in Calif. are having a prolonged drought:

http://hint.fm/wind/

From examining that wind amp, I find that our weather in my Northern Calif. County is coming to us from Reno Nevada - in other words from a SouthEast direction

[freshwest]

5. Definitely. And our invasion of Canada is set back once again. Kinda like Russia did the Germans...

And the French... And most likely some others.

But seriously, yes, the melting ice and warming waters contribute to this and the only thing that I've heard worse are the predictions about the underwater conveyor belt in the ocean.

It's said to be slowing. It would stop doing what serves to moderate land temperatures and just make things worse. Someone posted a video in the V&MM forum, of rhe many changes over time of Earth's global temperature and chemistry.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017168029

We really screwed the pooch this time. As in, 'to make an irreparable (possibly tragic) mistake.'

.

[RobertEarl]

6. Gulf stream current

The gulf stream heads for the arctic. When it pushes north it creates in the atmosphere that rising air column as stated in the OP.

As the air rises off the east coast of the US it creates an opening for the colder, denser air of the arctic to move into.

Thus is set up the circulation pattern for that which we are now witness too.

This site shows seat temp anomaly:
http://weather.unisys.com/surface/sfc_daily.php?plot=ssa&inv=0&t=cur

Notice the gulf stream current pushing into the arctic above N. Europe?

[dipsydoodle]

7. Yes , the jetstream, the polar vortex is always there.

Scroll down this BBC link for video : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25632586