that it Really, really cool again – As American shelves, through the eighth explosion of air from the Arctic this winter.
Winter, which is Warming faster From any other season for many of the United States, it seems to return for the first time in years; January was the coldest in less than 48 since 1988.
But the United States is strange, and so is this winter. January was the warmer in the world, and in a large extension of global warmth, the United States holds like a cold thumb.
Scientists say it is caused by a polar vortex that combines the main weather style that appears to be stuck in its place.
Some scientists say that these factors and this winter can be examples of how the cold behaves in the world of warming. Others argue that he does not draw a full picture and there is more research.
What they have consensus is that the winter has become warmer with the high temperature of the planet due to fossil fuel pollution, so this explosion in the Arctic of the past appears to be the remains of a era.
“We are changing winter leaflets,” said Zik Hosfath, a research scientist at the University of California, noting that when we are actually testing a cold season, “We are changing winter leaflets,” noting that when we test a really cold season, it is vibrant.
“There is no location in the United States, where it has become the coldest day of the year more cold over the past fifty years,” Hausfather. “Our memories are short in relation to the normal winter.”
How the cold in Alaska continues to decrease in the lowest 48
Some weather factors – including Antarctic vortex – It met together to make the United States the cold center this winter.
One of them is the weather style around the Arctic circle that appeared more frequent than usual this winter and leads the cold this week, according to Judas Cohen, the director of seasonal prediction in air and environmental research.
It is characterized by a large and long-term space of high pressure known as the high ban because it prevents cold air and redirects south by large dipping in the airway-the air river over the United States that flows through-which separates it-which also separates cold air from warm air.
This elevation was stuck over Alaska and northwestern Canada, which is generally something It often happens during Not Nine Winter is forced the cold to spill to parts of 48 less. The end result was one of the most severe winter to Alaska and one unusually cold in the lowest 48.
This diagram shows the general style and an extended polar spiral position that made the United States multi -bangs in the Arctic this winter. – CNN weather
The frequent appearance of this style can be a sign of things that will come in the world of warming. A 2023 studies High levels of blocking in the circle in the Arctic similar to the material this year will be more frequent as the Arctic has declined and the jet stream weakened, allowing more cold to spill south.
It is part of an increasing group of research that connects the Arctic to warm quickly for changes in the behavior of aircraft stream and severe cold. Other scientists, including Hausfather, believe that there is an additional research.
Whether it is connected to climate change or not, the pattern still raises his head this winter and works alongside the polar cycle.
Spirit -stretch: not a fitness routine
The course of the flying river and cold air can not be made in the far south without obtaining the help of the polar spiral, according to Cohen. This is because the polar spiral does not cause us to spread in the cold air, but Jennifer Francis, a climate research center in Woodwell.
The polar vortex is a space for fast -moving wind over the surface of the Earth and the flow of aircraft that revolves around the Arctic during the northern hemisphere. When it is strong, it brutally keeps the cold air in the Arctic, such as the skirting number that plays its role with their arms tightly on the body. When it is weak, the cold air leaks south.
The Antarctic spiral was “much stronger” than the usual this year, according to Laura Simiao, a meteorological specialist with the NOAA climate prediction center, which must keep the cold from the United States. But this is not because the Antarctic cycle often extended to strange forms.
A strong circular polar spiral like an elastic band when it is located on a surface without prejudice. But the energy that revolves around the atmosphere can sometimes be destroyed in the polar vortex, such as hands trying to a rubber band, which extends to something more rectangular than the circle. This is what is happening now.
It has now extended, polar numbers can turn the jet trend even more south than the high ban on itself can do. This allows more cold air to spill to the United States, and also explained the south, as Cohen explained.
Look, for example, the chills of the winds that are less than zero Dallas endured on Wednesday morning, or when New Orleans was buried under a standard 8 inches of snow in January.
Cohen said that the Antarctic vortex was going back and forth from a natural condition to an extended state with an extraordinary frequency this year, and thus all the cold shots. At least 10 of the events of the polar cycle that extended this winter, including the ongoing event, according to Cohen: Four in December, four in January and Monday in February.
Cohen said that the polar vortex is usually “like the aircraft carrier, and it does not spin quickly, not very smart.” “I have never seen anything like him.”
These polar vortexes occur frequently and the world-especially the protection in the Arctic-, paper 2021, which was published in the Science magazine, which it also co-authored in Cohen.
It has a great impact. Play a polar spiral spiral event an important role in the Arctic outbreak Texas froze In February 2021, more than 200 people were killed, according to 2020 studies.
The pattern of banning and the extended polar vortex are two factors at the forefront of what is still active and Often there is a very discussion The field of research in all of the cause and the number of times when the outbreak of the United States reaches the United States in the world of warming.
“There are multiple methods caused by a person who caused climate change is an effect on the jet stream, but it is never clear which factor is the most important in any specific event, such as the cold talisman now,” Francis explained. “It is always a mixture (of factors), and it is always complicated.”
There can be other effects that have not yet been discovered, and trust will grow with continued research, but scientists know that severe cold attacks like this winter will continue to happen even with high temperatures worldwide.
Francis concluded that “these severe cold events (will) may occur more often, although they may not be completely cold over time with an air temperature.” But when they do, “they will be sabotage.”
Laura Paddison of CNN contributed to this report.
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