Russian Heat, Asian Floods May Be Linked

[Ichingcarpenter]

Russia’s killer heat wave and monster South Asian monsoon floods could be more than isolated examples of extreme weather. Though separated by a continent, they could be linked.

Monsoon rains drive air upward, and that air has to come down somewhere. It usually comes down over the Mediterranean, producing the region’s hot, dry climate. This year, some of that air seems to have gone north to Russia.

“We haven’t done the studies, but there’s very good reason to suspect that there’s a relationship,” said Kevin Trenberth, head of climate analysis at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. “It’s simply related to the idea that there is a monsoon with very large circulation. There’s an upwards branch of it. There has to be a downwards branch somewhere else.”


The Russian heat wave has persisted since late June, with daytime temperatures at least 12 Fahrenheit degrees above normal — and often much more — for over a month. In Moscow alone, an estimated 300 people a day have died. The temperatures threaten wheat harvests and have sent global prices rising in a manner reminiscent of the lead-up to 2008’s global food riots.

Weather Underground meteorologist Jeff Masters called it “one of the most remarkable weather events of my lifetime,” which is probably an understatement. Russian meteorologists say it’s the most intense heat wave in a millennium.



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[dipsydoodle]

1. Only in as much

its a change in shape the jet stream which has caused both.

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. Warmer than normal Indian Ocean Temps

Fueling the monsoons’ intensity are warmer-than-usual temperatures in and above the Indian Ocean. At 2 Fahrenheit degrees above late-20th century levels, the air can hold about 8 percent more water. At higher temperatures, the air is also more buoyant, and “invigorates the storms,” said Trenberth.

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Vladimir Petoukhov, a climate modeler at Germany’s Potsdam Institute, agreed that a link is possible. “Different geographic locations of the Northern Hemisphere could be simultaneously subjected to drought-like and flood-like conditions,” he said. “These phenomena cannot be regarded as solitary local structures.”

As regional temperatures continue to rise, “the frequency of such events could markedly increase,” said Petoukhov.


I see nothing about the jet stream



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[dipsydoodle]

3. It was expained fully

on one of UK TV News weather segments a few days back.

I just searched and found this expanation here :


It now seems that these two apparently disconnected events have a common cause. They are linked to the heatwave that killed more than 60 in Japan, and the end of the warm spell in western Europe. The unusual weather in the US and Canada last month also has a similar cause.

According to meteorologists monitoring the atmosphere above the northern hemisphere, unusual holding patterns in the jet stream are to blame. As a result, weather systems sat still. Temperatures rocketed and rainfall reached extremes.

Renowned for its influence on European and Asian weather, the jet stream flows between 7 and 12 kilometres above ground. In its basic form it is a current of fast-moving air that bobs north and south as it rushes around the globe from west to east. Its wave-like shape is caused by Rossby waves – powerful spinning wind currents that push the jet stream alternately north and south like a giant game of pinball.

In recent weeks, meteorologists have noticed a change in the jet stream's normal pattern. Its waves normally shift east, dragging weather systems along with it. But in mid-July they ground to a halt, says Mike Blackburn of the University of Reading, UK (see diagram). There was a similar pattern over the US in late June.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727730.101-frozen-jet-stream-links-pakistan-floods-russian-fires.html

Its a shame there isn't a picture. Draw a sine wave and then imagine pushing the ends together as though to increase the frequency - would push the peaks higher at the same time. That's the current shape as opposed to normal and why the hot air is reaching Russia.