Arctic News: Global warming to blame for low temperatures in North America

Tuesday, February 18, 2025

Global warming to blame for low temperatures in North America

A temperature of -40°C (-39.9°F) was recorded at the circle on February 19, 2025 14:00 UTC, as illustrated by the above image.

What made this possible?

Temperature anomalies were very high in January 2025 in the Arctic, as illustrated by the image on the right.

Arctic sea ice extent is currently at a record low for the time of year. Temperatures of the water in the Arctic Ocean have been very high, resulting in very low sea ice volume, as illustrated by the image underneath on the right.

Arctic amplification of global warming at times causes the Jet Stream to become very wavy, enabling cold air from the Arctic to spread over deep over continents (i.e. North America, Asia and Europe).

At the same time, a more wavy Jet Stream enables more heat to abruptly move north from the North Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, threatening to cause destabilization of methane hydrates contained in sediments at the seafloor of the Arctic Ocean, resulting in eruptions of huge amounts of methane.

More extreme weather

Global warming is causing more extreme weather events all around the world, and as temperatures keep rising, these events look set to become more extreme, i.e. hitting larger areas for longer, with higher frequency and greater intensity.

[ from earlier post ]

The image below shows a deformed Jet Stream (lines show wind pattern) forecast for February 20, 2025 12:00 UTC, with high relative humidity at 250 hPa (left) and a 3-hour precipitation accumulation of 55.2 mm forecast at the green circle (right).

The image below shows temperature anomalies (°F) forecast for February 20, 2025 12:00 UTC over North America.

The image below shows a forecast of the actual temperature (°F) on February 20, 2025 12:00 UTC over North America.

The image below shows a temperature of -1.2° C (29.9°F) that is forecast to hit New Orleans (circle) on February 20,2025 13:00 UTC.

Climate Emergency Declaration

The situation is dire and the precautionary principle calls for rapid, comprehensive and effective action to reduce the damage and to improve the situation, as described in this 2022 post, where needed in combination with a Climate Emergency Declaration, as discussed at this group.