A warming planet is causing extreme weather including the rough polar vortexes of last winter, researchers have said in a new study.
Using a combination of recent weather patterns and computer simulations, the scientists found a connection between global warming and especially cruel winters in Europe, Asia and North America, Slate reported.
Unusual waves of cold air are actually "a side effect of global warming," study co-author Seong-Joong Kim, a climate scientist at the Korea Polar Research Institute, told Slate in a phone interview.
According to the study, decreased sea ice has weakened the polar vortex. When more heat moves toward the Arctic, waves of cold air head south to hit mid-latitude regions.
"Although these cold winters are thought to be partly driven by dramatic losses of Arctic sea-ice, the mechanism that links sea-ice loss to cold winters remains a subject of debate," the researchers wrote in the study abstract. "Here, by conducting observational analyses and model experiments, we show how Arctic sea-ice loss and cold winters in extra-polar regions are dynamically connected through the polar stratosphere."
Another recent study also indicated that overall warming temperatures and intense bouts of cold during the winter are related.
Paul O'Gorman, an atmospheric scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, used computer simulation to predict snowfall scenarios in the U.S. through year 2100, publishing his findings in the journal Nature.
O'Gorman found through his snowfall simulations that areas with typically intense snowfall will only see around an 8 percent decrease in snow during the heaviest storms. Higher latitudes will actually see 10 percent more snow during the roughest storms, while areas that generally don't get much snow will be even less likely to have historic snowfall.
Despite polar vortexes and harsh winters, the planet is warming overall, according to Kim's study of Arctic ice.
This sea ice loss is related to anthropogenic effects," said Kim, as quoted by Slate.
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