We’ve got approximately half as much sea ice in the Arctic in the fall now as we did say, 30 years or so ago — there’s been this dramatic decrease. There is emerging research — my colleagues and I published a paper last February on this — suggesting that as that sea ice melts it’s changing the jet stream, a current that steers weather in the mid-latitudes, places like New York. As sea ice melts, our research suggests that the jet stream is going to tend to get weaker. As the jet stream gets weaker, it’s easier for storms to stagnate or in some cases, maybe even move to the west, which is what this storm did.

Most hurricanes, as they get as far north as a place like New York, especially late in the season — September, October — [the] standard pattern is for that strong jet stream to push those storms to the east. What we saw with this storm was that it moved to the west. It’s a very unusual track and I would say it’s a big research question whether we might see in general more stormy weather and storms taking a track like that as sea ice melts.

— Dr. Radley Horton on melting sea ice and how it can steer hurricanes like Sandy in unusual directions

Climate scientist Dr. Radley Horton on storms in the future:

Given the higher sea levels in the future, even if storms remain exactly the same, we’re going to get more frequent flooding events, maybe three times as many coastal flood events by the end of the century, just by virtue of having average sea levels be higher.

(Image: Reuters)

Also up for today: we talk about Hurricane Sandy with Dr. Radley Horton, the climate science lead for the science policy team of the NYC Panel on Climate Change.

buzzfeedandrew:

A parking lot full of yellow cabs is flooded as a result of Hurricane Sandy in Hoboken. (AP)

npr:

InstaSnopes: Sorting the Real Sandy Photos From the Fakes - Alexis C. Madrigal - The Atlantic

Fact-check your Sandy photo stream. Try not to get too disappointed.

Weather the rest of Sandy (or at least, Sandy-related photos and coverage), with this interview on climate weirdness with science journalist Michael Lemonick and these other stories from NPR Books.

(Photo credit: Michael Lemonick)

laughingsquid:

The Day After Yesterday

We’re back on the Tumblr/Twitter grid today. Hope everyone is safe out there!