I have been discussing the Midwest of the USA for a long time. So has New York Times. If there is anything I have to critique is that media was looking for a formula to explain global warming. Justifying the science would become an obsession of the fossil fuel industries and any understanding would be lost to political rhetoric.
Global warming/Climate Crisis is about the ice fields, the glaciers and the HEALTH of Earth's polar environment. The reason Europe is suffering from enormous storms (click here) is because the Arctic Circle has little sustainable ice. THE ARCTIC VORTEX is displaced and bringing frigid air to lower latitudes.
There were tornadoes near a Mediterranean beach. (click here)
Donald Trump's ramblings are wrong and here is why.
The moving diagram below is a "weak polar vortex."
(a) At the beginning of the animation, the polar vortex lies near the North Pole and it confines all the cold air around the Arctic. However as the animation advances in time, warm air emerges out of Siberia and shifts the polar vortex off the Pole. The polar vortex, which started out circular, becomes stretched out and elongated and even splits into two pieces. The contours show the initial flow occurs from west to east, and then the flow becomes more north and south as the cold air spills out from the Arctic into the mid-latitudes.
The polar vortex (click here) is a fast flowing stream of air that circles the North Pole during the winter months in the upper atmosphere, known as the stratosphere. Often when the polar vortex is strong, temperatures are mild in the mid-latitudes across the Eastern US and Northern Eurasia; and when the vortex is weak, temperatures tend to be cold across the Eastern US and northern Europe and Asia.
Weak Polar Vortex
When the polar vortex is weak or “perturbed”, the flow of air is weaker and meanders north and south (rather than west to east). This allows a redistribution of air masses where cold air from the Arctic spills into the mid-latitudes and warm air from the subtropics is carried into the Arctic. This mixing of air masses also favors more storms and snow in the mid-latitudes.
During a weak polar vortex, high pressure occurs in the Arctic region and is referred to as the negative phase of the Arctic Oscillation (AO). Air flows away from the high pressure Arctic. The north to south direction of the polar vortex carries cold Arctic air into the mid-latitudes of Eastern US, Europe and East Asia. Therefore it is cold across the Eastern US, Europe and East Asia during winters when the polar vortex is weak.
The California wildfires were the worse in their history because of the wind. It has nothing to do with Forest Management. The winds were far to high to expect anything, but, an uncontrollable fire. It was reported that at one point the fire was traveling (jumping) 800 feet a second. It was why it was so difficult to escape and why there were survivors, especially in the Camp Fire.
The USA Forest Service cannot control the wind. I am going to read through the new 4th - Volume II assessment this week and I'll provide my impression next Sunday. This is not the first time the Midwest is to be an alarming awakening. Scientists have been stating all along. It is just that Americans are ready to hear it. Twelve years and counting. It is time to act! January 1, 2019 it becomes 11 years.
Recommended Citation: (click here) Hatfield, J., 2012: Agriculture in the Midwest. In: U.S. National Climate Assessment Midwest Technical Input Report. J. Winkler, J. Andresen, J. Hatfield, D. Bidwell, and D. Brown, coordinators. Available from the Great Lakes Integrated Sciences and Assessments (GLISA) Center, http://glisa.msu.edu/docs/NCA/MTIT_Agriculture.pdf.
Agriculture in the Midwest United States (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin) represents one of the most intense areas of agriculture in the world. This area is not only critically important for the United States economy but also for world exports of grain and meat. In the 2007 Census of Agriculture these states had a market value of crop and livestock products sold of $76,989,749,000 (USDA Census of Agriculture, 2007). Within the U.S., Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota ranked 2, 3, and 4 in the value of crops sold and Iowa ranked 3rd in the value of livestock, poultry and their products and Wisconsin ranked 7th in the value of livestock, poultry and their products sold. The economic value of agriculture in the Midwest encompasses corn, soybean, livestock, vegetables, fruits, tree nuts, berries, nursery and greenhouse plants. The economic value of the crop and livestock commodities in these states continues to increase because of the rising prices...
