Arctic Summer Wind Shift Could Affect Sea Ice Loss And US/European Weather

[Cheryl Nelson]

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2012/20121010_arcticwinds.html

"Enhanced warming of the Arctic affects the jet stream by slowing its west-to-east winds and by promoting larger north-south meanders in the flow. Predicting those meanders and where the weather associated with them will be located in any given year, however, remains a challenge.

"The researchers say that with more solar energy going into the Arctic Ocean because of lost ice, there is reason to expect more extreme weather events, such as heavy snowfall, heat waves, and flooding in North America and Europe but these will vary in location, intensity, and timescales."