Earth is getting warmer. Better grab your coat.
Want to hear something weird? A couple of weeks ago New Orleans got eight inches of snow. Want to hear something weirder? It might have been caused by global warming.
It’s kind of hard to get your mind around the idea that a warming planet could bring record-breaking low temperatures and historic snowfall to a place with normally balmy winters. But that’s what some climate research suggests.
Here’s the gist of it: The Arctic is home to what is known as the polar vortex, a maelstrom of extremely cold winds that encircle the pole. When the polar vortex is strong, the super cold air stays near the pole (think of a figure skater spinning faster as they hold their arms close to their body). When the polar vortex is weak, that cold air can surge south (the skater’s arms fling out), causing colder weather than normal at lower latitudes. That’s how you get snowball fights on Bourbon Street.
So what does this have to do with global warming? Well, Earth isn’t warming uniformly. The poles are warming faster than the rest of the planet. Increased Arctic temperatures weaken the polar vortex and make it more likely that it will break up and send a big winter surprise to snow-starved Southerners.
Climate science is complex, and there’s still a lot of research to do to understand how changes in the polar vortex affect the weather at lower latitudes. But one thing is certain: The weather is getting weird. And it’s likely to get weirder.
’til next time,
Avery