Another Atlantic hurricane season has come to a close, and with it comes the continuation of a remarkable streak: The U.S. hasn’t seen a major hurricane make landfall within its borders in nine years. The last to do so was Hurricane Wilma, which hit Florida as a Category 3 hurricane on Oct. 24, 2005…Other work has come to conflicting conclusions. A study by Jennifer Francis of Rutgers University has suggested that the reduction of Arctic sea ice and the amplified warming at the North Pole could lead to more “blocking situations” like the one that sent Sandy on its westward turn into the U.S. Blocking patterns happen when the kinks in the jet stream get “stuck” for several days or weeks.
What Global Warming Might Mean for Extreme Snowfalls
So if the world is warming, that means winters should be less snowy, right? Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that. OK, it’s a lot more complicated…”It does make sense that when the overall climate is warming that your baseline snowfalls are going to decrease,” but you can still “pop a big snowstorm,” said David Robinson, the New Jersey state climatologist and the director of the Global Snow Lab at Rutgers University.
Small Volcanic Eruptions Add to Larger Impact on Climate
The recent slow down in global warming has been attributed to a number of factors, including excess heat being stored in the deep ocean and reductions of certain greenhouse gases. Now add volcanic eruptions to the mix of contributing factors. A new analysis published in Nature Geosciences on Sunday shows that a series of relatively small eruptions since 2000 have likely helped dampened the rise in temperatures…”Since none of the standard scenarios for evaluating future global warming include volcanic eruptions, this paper will help us quantify the impacts of future large and small eruptions when they happen, and thus better interpret the role of humans in causing climate change,” said Alan Robock, a leading expert on the intersection of volcanoes and climate at Rutgers University.
Sea Level & Risk of Flooding Rising Rapidly in Mid-Atlantic
During the 20th century, sea levels along the highly populated U.S. Mid-Atlantic coastline between New York and Virginia rose faster than in any other century during the past 4,300 years, according to a new study. And as those sea levels continue to in…
Spring in U.S. Was Cooler and More Extreme Than Average
The U.S. had a cooler and wetter than average spring that featured deadly tornadoes in Oklahoma, widespread flooding in the Midwest, and deepening drought in the Western U.S., according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In …
Heeding Sandy’s Lessons, Before the Next Big Storm
It has been six months since Hurricane Sandy redrew the northern Mid-Atlantic coastline with its record storm surge and strong winds, paralyzing New York City for days, all the while offering a disturbing preview of what future storms may do to other c…
Waste Heat From Cities May Be Altering Weather Patterns
The carbon dioxide that belches from tailpipes and smokestacks is a proven greenhouse gas that has been driving global temperatures more or less steadily upward over the past century…On that last point, Jennifer Francis, an atmospheric scientist at R…