Recent weather pattern in the mid-Atlantic region is just like roller coaster ride. A week of extreme coldness and snow, and a week of spring-like warmness and rain. Last couple of days were really warm, and last month heavy snow were almost melted away here in upstate New York. I was even considering to go fishing (well, it didn't happen). What's going on?
Climate change is suspected to be behind the roller coaster weather. Sounds like non-sense? Let's assume that you agree on that the average temperature of atmosphere is going up, then here are some brief explanations which I summarized from various sources:
- Higher surface temperature increases total amount of vapor in atmosphere. More vapor ends up with higher precipitation.
- Higher surface temperature increases the power of low pressure system. Surface air rises more easily. Stronger low pressure system in the middle altitude pulls down arctic cold air or up equatorial hot air.
I overly simplified explanations to provoke interest. Climate is so complex that there are still many things that we cannot understand. Although we agree on the large amount of uncertainty, it seems evident that climate change took a certain role in this roller coaster weather.
2 comments:
Climate change is the norm. Climate has always been changing.
Climate stability is abnormal.
Hi, Yoav,
Thanks for the comment. I am glad to provoke some thoughts. There exists huge uncertainty about climate change. I don't want to and cannot argue about the cause of climate change here.
BUT one thing to clearly point out is that climate pattern is changing toward worrisome direction compared to the past climate data. What I want to do is to provide information of climate change for the public to make informed decisions.
Roller coaster weather is troublesome as we have observed. We may not be able to fix the weather system, I think. But we need to know how weather would change and how to cope with the change. I hope you get my point. Any further comment or thought is absolutely welcome.
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