Extreme winter weather has been causing severe climate changes all over. The includes the Middle East, where a freak December winter storm paralyzed Jerusalem and Amman and brought snow to Cairo for the first time in 100 years. Will the Middle East experience a Polar Vortex?
Let’s see what’s been happening: a change in the wind pattern of the annual winter Polar Vortex has put much of North America into the deep freeze, and caused serious flooding in many parts of Europe.
What is causing these drastic weather pattern changes? Why are they resulting in such severe cold that makes temperatures in parts of the earth’s Northern Hemisphere comparable to temperatures on Mars?
These questions were addressed to meteorologists who study the annual polar vortex phenomena and its deviations this winter which have caused so much extreme winter cold and snow (see below).
In an interview broadcast on the Democracy Now news site, Jeff Masters, director of meteorology at the Weather Underground meteorological site, explained what is happening and whether there is any connection with the phenomenon of global warming.
Masters told D.N. that the Polar Vortex is a normal, annual event in which the winds of the Jet Stream, combined with long periods of Arctic darkness, cause extreme cold and high winds to persist in northern Arctic regions.
According to Masters: “when you get all that cold air up there in the Arctic, it tends to drive stronger winds. And those winds blow counterclockwise around the pole in a vortex; and those winds tend to isolate that cold air from the rest of the world. And so, that cold air can stay cold.
“When that happens to slosh over where we are (the USA), boy, we sure notice it.”
He believes that what is causing the Polar Vortex to dip down into the continental USA is a slowing down of jet stream wind velocity that is causing the winds to “dip down in long meandering loops”.
Masters considers this extreme change in the polar vortex wind patterns a “once in 20 years event” and that there is not definite proof that it is connected to global warming. He did say, however, that rises in the earth’s surface temperature is causing the polar ice caps to melt faster, resulting in less reflection of the sun’s rays from normal ice cap fields.
This Jet Stream wind “meandering” may have caused the Arctic weather loop that dipped down to the Middle East last month and resulted in as much as a meter of snow in Jerusalem and other higher areas, as well as Cairo’s snow storm (above photo).
When summer arrives in a few months, the cold and snow of this unusual winter weather may well be missed when the wrath of global warming again brings searing temperatures to much of the Middle East.
Read more on climate change:
Snow Shocks Cairo for First Time in 100 Years
Severe Weather Causing Middle East Mayhem and Deaths
The Wrath of Global Warming and the Middle East
Illustration and satellite photo of Polar Vortex change in North America by Accuweather.com
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/what-is-a-polar-vortex/21793077
Author: Maurice Picow
Maurice Picow grew up in Oklahoma City, U.S.A., where he received a B.S. Degree in Business Administration. Following graduation, Maurice embarked on a career as a real estate broker before making the decision to move to Israel. After arriving in Israel, he came involved in the insurance agency business and later in the moving and international relocation fields. Maurice became interested in writing news and commentary articles in the late 1990’s, and now writes feature articles for the The Jerusalem Post as well as being a regular contributor to Green Prophet. He has also written a non-fiction study on Islam, a two volume adventure novel, and is completing a romance novel about a forbidden love affair. Writing topics of particular interest for Green Prophet are those dealing with global warming and climate change, as well as clean technology - particularly electric cars.
Hopefully. Then maybe more people will think seriously about climate change and the need for safe recycling and gentle family planning, so humanity can live in peace and balance on a healthy, natural planet Earth.