Large El Niño may have caused record blizzard on US East Coast

NPR : Last week’s record-setting blizzard that hit the US East Coast was probably due, at least in part, to the unusually large El Niño that has developed over the Pacific Ocean this year. According to climate scientists, considerable heat and moisture from El Niño got swept up in the tropical jet stream and traveled eastward. At the same time, a low-pressure system in the upper atmosphere southwest of Alaska disrupted the flow of the polar jet stream, bringing much colder air much farther south. Finally, additional warm, moist air from the Atlantic Ocean added to the mix. The result: Cold air collided with warm, wet air and a blizzard ensued. Because of climate change, more such blizzards, and other extreme weather events, may be in our future, says climatologist Michael Mann: As the atmosphere warms, the oceans absorb the extra heat, which alters the oceans’ circulation patterns and “where and when they release that heat back into the atmosphere.”