Climate Change: Think winters are getting colder? Blame Arctic warming and, yes, the polar vortex

There is growing scientific support for one of the most provocative and counterintuitive ideas in climate change research, which holds that rapid Arctic warming may be causing colder winters across large swaths of the Northern Hemisphere. 

A new study, to be published in the journal Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society,found that a weakening polar vortex, potentially set in motion by the rapidly warming and melting Arctic, has become more common during the past four decades. This results in colder winters across large regions of Europe and Russia, but also occasionally in the U.S. as well.

The study is the first to show that changes in winds in the stratosphere substantially contributed to a mysterious winter cooling trend in northern Europe and Asia, including a region already known for being frigid: Siberia. 

The study, written by a group of European and American researchers, found that a weakening in the wintertime polar vortex can explain 60 percent of the observed cooling in Eurasia since 1990. That figure increases to 80 percent if other influences on winter weather, including El Niño events, are also included.

Full story at http://on.mash.to/2fpkQam

Source: Mashable

 

 

 

Donation:
If you appreciate the things I share, consider making a contribution
no matter how small via PayPal or with TransferWise (EUR).
If you use Waves my wallet address is: 3PPeCnXEDAiRVzvsuGRycrNDHhWgDq68uVt
If you use Bitcoin my wallet address is: 12pAsyMdZoTHPvkiRAZiuQhC8bF4DLbYpQ

Bitcoin QR-Code