The climate is drunk again - HEATED⁠↗

Francis’s peer-reviewed papers showed a fascinating phenomenon: That as the Arctic was getting warmer and warmer, the polar vortex was taking more and more drunken adventures down south. In a phone conversation, Francis told me the drunk part was actually the jet stream: the currents of wind that flow west to east along the borders of hot and cold air*. “The jet stream is in this wavy pattern, like a drunk walking along,” she said. She said human-caused climate change was weakening the jet stream, causing these massive dips. “This kind of pattern is going to be more likely, and has been more likely,” she said. “Extremes on both ends are a symptom. Wild, unusual temperatures of both sides, both warmer and colder.”

This extreme polar vortex event epitomizes everything climate change is: unprecedented, unrelenting, affecting a population unaccustomed and unprepared. Yes, we have always had winter—but not here, and not like this. Now take out the word “winter,” and replace it with every other extreme weather event. That’s climate change.