Polar Vortex: To Warm Up - Move to Alaska! (News, Switzerland)
"After the last few years, what we can say is that climate
conditions on our planet are shifting increasingly toward the extreme: floods
of the century, storms of the century, heat of the century, droughts and cold
of the century, have become standard protocol, with the resulting damage rising
steadily as well. ... If one must go from Tennessee to Alaska to warm up, it
should be apparent that something is terribly wrong."
The
U.S. is being taken over by the North Pole. Or at least, by the air that
usually sits up there and is responsible for the proverbial polar climate. Meanwhile,
in the Arctic Circle, the odd polar bear might be wondering why his winter den
is melting.
Bethel,
Alaska is located at nearly 61 degrees north latitude and usually enjoys
average daily temperature of 12.3º Fahrenheit [-10.9º Celsius]. For the last
few days, however, overnight temperatures there have been above freezing, with
the mercury not likely to fall below freezing [32º F or 0º C] until tomorrow. Other
parts of Alaska are still frozen, but it’s pretty strange when the Behring
Strait in winter is 10 degrees warmer than Nashville Tennessee, where
prevailing temperatures are a frosty 3.2º F [-16º C].
Anyone
who has ever been on the road in the American South and has seen the homes - frequently
trailers, and is familiar with their insulation, would be immediately concerned
about the people there now trying to bring their dwellings up to livable
temperatures. The air conditioners that are absolutely essential in the summer
provide no relief now, and the danger that storms could bring down local
aboveground power lines, therefore eliminating the only available option for
heat, is more than an abstract nightmare scenario.
An
exchange of Arctic and temperate air masses in winter is actually normal - only
on a much smaller scale. Normally, smaller systems shift in a southeasterly direction
from the circling mass of air over the Arctic (the polar vortex), bringing
winter weather to America and Europe. This time, however, the smaller systems
were blocked in their push eastward (in our direction, that is) by a stable
high-pressure system over Greenland and northeastern Canada. Add to that the
fact that this Arctic vortex of cold air has become increasingly unstable over
recent years.Apparently, what we are
currently seeing fits perfectly with the “Arctic
Paradox,” which leads to a warmer Arctic and colder winters on the
continents.
Man meets the Arctic - in
Chicago. Due to what has come to be
known as
the 'Polar Vortex,' one must now go north to get warm.
Added
to the aforementioned high-pressure system in the east is another over the
Pacific, over western Canada, that forces the jet stream up to the north and back
down to the southeast into the heart of the United States - an air current that
actually encourages outbreaks of cold air like the ones currently occurring in
the U.S. Now, if virtually all the cold Arctic air from Canada - hindered neither
by mountains nor warmed by oceans - rushes down into the U.S. and makes teeth
chatter even in the normally frost-free south, then the weather phenomena
mentioned above will interact with disastrous perfection.
Whether
these weather patterns (a similar one brought Europe its last especially long
winter) are really caused by the rapidly warming Arctic and the corresponding
loss of ocean ice is a matter of debate. One expert compares it to a court case
in which circumstantial evidence is being collected, but there is no direct
physical evidence.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
Starting
next Friday, the ice scare in the U.S. will likely be over and the storm
delivering huge masses of snow will move out over the Atlantic. It isn’t yet clear
whether it will just snow on the south side of the Alps again, or comes here
[mainland Europe], bringing us something resembling winter.
On
the other hand, after the last few years, what we can say is that climate
conditions on our planet are shifting increasingly toward the extreme: floods
of the century, storms of the century, heat of the century, droughts and cold
of the century, have become standard protocol, with the resulting damage rising
steadily as well. The argument that this is just the result of misguided construction
and development policies is only a partial explanation. When half of New York
is flattened by a super storm, and old areas of cities are destroyed as a
result, it is not because building took place in particularly at-risk areas.
The
fact that the climate debate has drifted slightly toward the childish, and that
science has been obscured by rhetoric - is alarming and dangerous. If one must
go from Tennessee to Alaska to warm up, it should be apparent that something is
terribly wrong. Especially if, thanks to what have recently become regular ocean
current patterns, this threatens to become the norm.
