Arctic Ice Decline Could Be Cause Of Frigid March

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The decline of sea ice in the Arctic could be linked to this month’s long cold stretch in Wisconsin, says a climate scientist.

UW-Madison professor Steve Vavrus and a colleague at Rutgers University published a paper last year. It hypothesized that warming in the Arctic would affect air pressure and slow the jet stream patterns around the northern hemisphere, leading to more long-lasting weather patterns. The scientists also said the west-to-east river of air would meander more, and set up more extreme weather. Vavrus says there was record-low sea ice coverage in the Arctic last summer; then, over the winter , Russia had its longest severe cold snap in 75 years. And then, Vavrus says, there’s been this month in Wisconsin.

“We’ve also had a repeat of the very weak circulation patten: it’s ongoing. And we’ve just experienced a very cold month of March. We’re looking at the coldest march in southern Wisconsin in 35-40 years.”

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Vavrus cautions there is some natural fluctuation of the circulation patterns.

“But what we’re arguing the loss of sea ice loss is … loading the dice in favor of a more negative Arctic oscillation pattern.”

Vavrus says he’s a climate scientist, not a politician, but he says anything we can do to slow down the greenhouse warming effect that may be affecting the weather is a good thing. He says, otherwise, people will have to find more ways to adapt to the changing conditions.