It’s so cold. How is this global warming?
Hotter summers, more frequent droughts, floods, and wildfires are just some of the effects of global warming, and they are about to become progressively worse.
There are less perceptible results of global warming, specifically, the frequency of winter cold snaps in the Northern Hemisphere. Unusual and unpredictable weather such as the winter of 2018 referred to as the Beast from the East or the cold spell of Arctic air reaching Texas in February 2021.
Winter cold snaps have been known to have catastrophic effects on health, transport, infrastructure and agriculture. This year, the winter has affected immense parts of Europe and the United States, resulting in flight cancellations, road blockades and airport closures.
Cold snaps have been linked to disruption in the stratospheric polar vortex (SPV) which are generally confined to the Arctic region. These prevent the SPV from travelling to other destinations (higher altitudes). The phenomenon that can disrupt the SPV is a surge referred to as ‘sudden stratospheric warming (SSW)’, which is essentially an increase in temperature resulting in energy transfer to higher altitudes. It also means that SSW can act as a trigger for cold spells. As a result of climate change, the disruption of the vortex appears to be occurring at a much greater frequency and degree, which consequently has also increased winter cold snaps.
What does the future hold?
The ability to forecast these cold snaps through computer-based tools is vital in allowing society to prepare for them. Having an understanding of all the processes that Ozone is involved in, is also crucial to having a prediction tool that predicts weather accurately. Unfortunately, cold spells do not reverse or slow down global warming. Whilst the winter brought extreme cold temperatures and snowfall in the northern hemisphere, the summer in the southern hemisphere has resulted in some of the hottest days in places such as Australia (around 50ºC).
The actual by-product of global warming is making weather temperatures that exist, more extreme. This means that colder temperatures will continue to become increasing colder, and the summers will become persistently hotter. The end result is more drought, wildfires, flooding and freezing cold winters.
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Sources:
The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/global-warming-may-be-behind-an-increase-in-the-frequency-and-intensity-of-cold-spells-223153
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