Quote:
Originally Posted by chedder
Scientists are saying the warming of the planet (and subsequently less polar ice) is causing these polar vortices to dip down into where they haven't before instead of staying up north where they traditionally have.
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They don't really know at this point:
https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2...20less%20solid.
Quote:
Some scientists suggest this stretching is happening more often as the climate warms. And data gathered over two decades initially supported that theory.
“One school of research has found that warming in the Arctic may be causing weather weirding or torquing of the jet stream to pull cold air down more often and perhaps intensify cold and snow,” Henson says.
But he says over longer time scales, the connections are a little less solid.
“So that tends to argue for what we call natural variability,” he says.
So scientists are still debating the role of climate change in polar vortex disruptions. But Henson says no matter what, people should expect occasional extreme cold waves.
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More info about the events:
http://www.climate.gov/news-features...c-polar-vortex