Flip Flop Weather

Climate change doesn’t just mean global warming (something that people in the Northeast who are experiencing major blizzards can attest to), it means oscillations of extreme hot and cold. Exceptionally warm weather in the arctic this winter and last, coupled with extremely cold weather further south, has been the cause of exceptional winter storms, and it appears that the massive loss of sea ice in recent years could be the cause. While people in the UK and New York wake up to find their cars buried in snow and ice, temperatures have set record highs in Greenland and parts of Canada.

Ice reflects sunlight, and the loss of ice in the Arctic means the ocean absorbs more heat in the summer, and that extra heat could be causing the recent harsh winters in Europe and the US. How does this work? It all has to do with the jet stream, something Whitley and Art Bell wrote about in their book "The Coming Global Superstorm." The jet stream is a current that circles the Northern Hemisphere. In the January 24th edition of the New York Times, Justin Gillis quotes NOAA researcher Michelle L’Heureux as saying, "It’s like a fence." But for two winters in a row, cold air has broken through that fence and made it’s way down to the northern parts of Europe and the US. It’s ironic that global warming could make things so cold, but believe it or not, that’s exactly what’s the path the Earth is following right now.