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MORE INFORMATION FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL:
An epidemic of deadly tornadoes this week likely has been spawned by the rare collision of hot, humid air from the Gulf of Mexico with frigid Arctic winds pushed down across five Southern states by global climate patterns, weather experts said.
These forces have helped produce about 800 twisters so far this month, four times the average for April, meteorologists said. The National Weather Service reported 165 tornadoes on Wednesday alone. The last comparable spate of destructive storms occurred in April 1974, when 148 twisters touched down in 13 states over 16 hours.
"Hopefully, this is not a preview of coming events for May and June, which historically are the most active tornado months," said climatologist William Patzert at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Several other research meteorologists, however, said spring storm systems have been strengthened and pinned in place longer than usual this year by shifts in climate patterns over the Arctic and the Pacific oceans, far from Wednesday's destruction.
The rise and fall of atmospheric pressure over the Arctic—a long-term climate pattern called the Arctic Oscillation—and the lingering effects of a cooling La Niña current in the Pacific Ocean can alter the path of prevailing winds across North America by altering the balance of energy in the atmosphere. That combination may have propelled repeated outbreaks of severe storms over the Southern states.
Powering the storms is heat and moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, where sea-surface temperatures recently have been running about two degrees Fahrenheit above average. Researchers, however, discounted any link to long-term global climate change.
FULL ARTICLE:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703643104576291330026843632.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
The rise and fall of atmospheric pressure over the Arctic—a long-term climate pattern called the Arctic Oscillation—and the lingering effects of a cooling La Niña current in the Pacific Ocean can alter the path of prevailing winds across North America by altering the balance of energy in the atmosphere. That combination may have propelled repeated outbreaks of severe storms over the Southern states.
Powering the storms is heat and moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, where sea-surface temperatures recently have been running about two degrees Fahrenheit above average. Researchers, however, discounted any link to long-term global climate change.
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