Experts say climate change is loading the dice for severe storms by creating the right environments and atmospheric conditions.
over the weekend had all the trappings of devastating storms that typically strike at the height of tornado season in the spring. Only this time, disaster came just weeks before Christmas.that tore through Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee and Arkansas were shocking in their intensity and their timing, experts said. And they were the kinds of violent storms that raise worrisome questions about what extreme weather events may look like in a warming world.
A more volatile atmosphere in essence increases the chances of severe weather events, said Jason Furtado, an associate professor of meteorology at the University of Oklahoma. What's surprising, he said, is that the ingredients to fuel intense tornadoes coalesced so late in the year.Laura Thompson for NBC News / Laura Thompson for NBC News
That's because tornadoes — even ones with very long tracks — usually affect relatively small swaths of land, Furtado said. They also tend to be short events, typically lasting only a few hours.could be over hundreds or maybe thousands of kilometers, and they go on for much longer," he said."So we can have climate models and run simulations for these large-scale phenomena."Tornado damage Sunday after extreme weather in Mayfield, Ky.
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