Trapped atmospheric waves triggering more weather extremes: Trend expected to continue
Tuesday, August 12, 2014 - 05:02
in Earth & Climate
Weather extremes in the summer -- such as the record heat wave in the United States that hit corn farmers and worsened wildfires in 2012 -- have reached an exceptional number in the last ten years. Human-made global warming can explain a gradual increase in periods of severe heat, but the observed change in the magnitude and duration of some events is not so easily explained.