Many moons ago, I first coined the phrase “weather whiplashing” to describe wrenching changes from one weather extreme to another, and then often a return to the original state. Time scales for these shifts can be one year to the next, or one month to another, or even shorter.
For example, one summer we can have torrential rains over the Mississippi River regions leading to record flood levels and disruption of shipping and breaches of flood walls leading to extensive regional flooding. The next summer, we then have record setting widespread drought, and river levels so low that the US Army Corps of Engineers blasts rocks on the river floor to keep some commercial barge traffic operating. The third year, we again have torrential rains leading to new record high river levels and massive flooding exceeding that of the previous record flooding. That’s weather whiplashing on a year-to-year timeframe.
Alternately, we can have a record heat wave in early Spring causing all the buds to come out on plants. Then, a record cold snap can occur, killing all the buds. Rinse and repeat.
These weather whiplashing events are very destructive and cause huge economic losses to societies, and they are occurring more and more often.
A few years ago, Jennifer Francis and her colleagues studied what they called Weather Whiplashing Events (WWEs) over North America.
In this new paper that I chat about, they examine WWEs spanning between Greenland, the North Atlantic Ocean, and Europe.
As global warming continues to accelerate, the scientific analysis clearly shows associated increases in frequency and severity of Weather Whiplashing Events.
Please donate to http://PaulBeckwith.net to support my research and videos as I join the dots on abrupt climate system mayhem.
Happy New Year.
Welcome to 2024.
We made it, so far:)
by paulhenrybeckwith