Arctic conditions in eastern United States this week may have been the result of climate change-induced stressors on the jet stream that regulates weather over the northern hemisphere, according to meteorologists…Ironically, though, it was warmer-than-usual temperatures that likely sent the cold weather southwards. Climate change-induced ocean warming in the Pacific turned Typhoon Nuri into a “supertyphoon” that punched the jet stream off its course, bringing the North Pole’s weather down over the eastern U.S., according to experts…”If you think of the jet stream as a rope and you take that rope and whip it, that’s what (Nuri did), it gave it a big whip,” said Jennifer Frances, research professor at Rutgers University and author of “Rapid Arctic warming and wacky weather: Are they linked?”
If the world had a giant thermostat, who would control the weather?
As the prospect of a warmer planet becomes reality, scientists are seeking ways to control the climate and keep the planet cooler. It’s a risky and highly controversial idea and, if successful, could imperil the ozone layer and lead to changes in rainfall patterns worldwide. It could also pit nations against one another as they try to control the weather or even use it as a weapon. “Whose hand would be on the thermostat?” a leading climate scientist at Rutgers University, Alan Robock, asked the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology in 2009. “What if Canada or Russia wanted the climate to be a little warmer, while tropical countries and small island states wanted it cooler?”