Anatomy of a Disastrous Tornado Weather System

NASA Photo

First off, I am not saying the recent tornado outbreak is climate change related. It could be, but for now I will just focus on the amazing satellite video footage of this recent major storm system that devastated much of the southeastern US. On the title link, at very least I recommend you view the "small animation" to see what looks like a wildfire sweeping the southern states. But it is not a fire, it is simply cold air interacting with warm-moist air. Both are feeding into the front....as logic would require to sustain this storm system for more than a day. From NASA:

"The animation starts on April 26 and runs through the morning of April 28. The ingredients for severe weather are evident in the cloud patterns. A relatively stable mass of cold air—visible as a swirl of more-or-less continuous clouds—rotates in the north along the top of the image. Meanwhile, moist air pushes north and west from the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. The warm air contains small low clouds.

The collision between two such air masses is enough to generate severe weather, but the weather also was amplified by the jet stream on April 27. Though not directly visible in the image, the narrow band of fast-moving wind blew north and east between the two air masses. With surface winds blowing from the south and east, and the jet stream blowing from the west, powerful smaller-scale circulation patterns generated lines of intense thunderstorms."

The GOES satellite that took these videos is a joint NASA-NOAA geostationary satellite that stays over one point of the earth.

Why the past decade did not warm more than it did

You may recall that Phil Jones, former director of Britain's Climatic Research Unit, said there has been NO statistically significant global warming from 1995 to the present. If true, why?

Well it would appear that a 10% decrease in water vapor in the stratosphere may be the cause. Water vapor is a naturally occurring greenhouse gas, and has been thought to remain at relatively stable concentrations. While the linked study cites extensive measurements, the authors confess to not knowing why stratospheric water vapor content changes.

Since water vapor and cloud formation are linked, you might wish to check out this short article about improved cloud modeling in Nature Climate Reports.   Photo: Clouds over Madagascar by Bill Fintel