Extreme Weather

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
The polar jet stream may be driving a "hemispheric pattern of severe weather."

submitted by Paul Pritchard

e360.yale.edu - by Fred Pearce - February 24, 2014

Scientists are trying to understand if the unusual weather in the Northern Hemisphere this winter — from record heat in Alaska to unprecedented flooding in Britain — is linked to climate change. One thing seems clear: Shifts in the jet stream play a key role and could become even more disruptive as the world warms.

This winter’s weather has been weird across much of the Northern Hemisphere. Record storms in Europe; record drought in California; record heat in parts of the Arctic, including Alaska and parts of Scandinavia; but record freezes too, as polar air blew south over Canada and the U.S., causing near-record ice cover on the Great Lakes, sending the mercury as low as minus 50 degrees Celsius in Minnesota, and bringing sharp chills to Texas.

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Greg Mauch uses a shovel to clear several inches of snow from her sidewalk in Detroit, Jan. 2, 2014.
Joshua Lott/Reuters

abcnews.com - Associated Press - by Carson Walker - January 4, 2014

It has been decades since parts of the Midwest experienced a deep freeze like the one expected to arrive Sunday, with potential record-low temperatures heightening fears of frostbite and hypothermia even in a region where residents are accustomed to bundling up.

This "polar vortex," as one meteorologist calls it, is caused by a counterclockwise-rotating pool of cold, dense air. The frigid air, piled up at the North Pole, will be pushed down to the U.S., funneling it as far south as the Gulf Coast.

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                                                   CLICK HERE - BOULDER FLOOD RELIEF

Boulder Flood Relief is a local, boots on the ground, all-volunteer group organizing relief for displaced and in need individuals.

Call: (720) 943-4482

http://boulderfloodrelief.org/

Three vehicles crashed into a creek close after the road washed out from beneath them near Dillon Rd. and 287 in Broomfield, Colorado, September 12, 2013 in heavy flooding. Three people were rescued. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post)

huffingtonpost.com - by Andrea Rael - September 12, 2013

Residents in Lyons, Colorado are "completely isolated" by floodwaters that have disrupted their sewer and fresh water.

Boulder County Sheriff Joseph Pelle told 7News that residents were being told to reach for higher ground.

"They're completely isolated at this point. There is no access in or out," Pelle said during a Thursday media briefing. "They've lost their sewer plant, they've lost their fresh water, lost their market."

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