Saturday, November 19, 2016

The Arctic Is Warm

It's 36 degrees F (20 degrees C) above normal. Sea ice levels are at record lows and temperatures are far above normal. A climatologist said on his blog, “It is amazing to see that the warmth has become even more pronounced since the end of October.”

Scientists say that a number of factors contribute to the unusually warm polar temperatures. The jet stream is pushing warm, moist air in from the south and showing greater variations from its usual path for longer amounts of time This leads to an increased number of severe weather incidents that last for longer periods of time. It also causes more warm, moist air to move into the northernmost parts of the northern hemisphere, which melts Arctic ice, slowing the Jet Stream down even more.

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