Weather Trends and Climate Change
Saanvi Kunisetty
David Leondhart recently interviewed John Schwartz to make sense of what the recent weather means for climate change.
Firstly, what’s up with this unnaturally cold winter? All these low temperatures can’t mean global warming, can they? Well, actually, regardless of climate change, the weather is always subject to change, seasonally or not. Weirdly enough, the recent snow storms actually suggest evidence of climate change due to a possible effect called “global weirding.” The general warming of the world causes sudden bursts of cold near the polar vortex. The warm climate warms and weakens the jet stream here, and causes the coldness to spill into other areas like the middle latitudes. This phenomenon of the warm Arctic resulting in other regions becoming colder is known as the “Warm-Arctic/Cold-Continents Pattern.”
Another explanation that explains the unusual cold weather’s relation to climate change, which is much simpler than the previous explanation, is that a warm atmosphere can hold much more moisture, which results in potential for a large amount of snow when storms arise.
Resources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/briefing/texas-blackouts-mars-rover-cuomo-new-york.html
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