Perfect, Supercharging Storm Brewing This Summer, Expert Warns

Experts warned the public about a perfect storm that seems to be brewing this summer season.

This was remarked by climate scientist Michael Mann following deadly floodings in the northeastern portion of the United States and the high temperature being experienced in Southwest US as well as in other countries around the world.

"Sure, weather is weather. It's going to happen - rainfall, flooding events are going to happen. What climate change is doing is it's supercharging them, so when you get one of those weather systems that's producing large amounts of rainfall, you get more rainfall," Mann said in a report on CNN.

Role of jet streams

Mann also explained the role of jet stream during this type of weather.

Jet streams are narrow bands of strong wind that generally blow from west to east all across the globe. They usually form when warm air masses meet cold air masses in the atmosphere.

Mann said the jet stream could be getting stuck in positions that prolong these kinds of extreme weather events, including the torrential rains in some areas.

Mann further noted that when the jet stream was stalled in place, it is often that the high and low pressure centers also remain in place.

These wavy jet stream patterns are often associated with the very persistent weather extremes, including heat, drought, wildfire as well as the flooding events, the scientist said.

Dangerous weather

The Guardian reported that "dangerous weather" is likely to remain in most areas in US. This coincides with the heightened warnings against the occurrence of climate crisis this month.

The report mentioned the floods in the north-east as well as the warnings against longer and hotter heatwaves in the southern and western US.

There were still intensified flood warnings in some areas of Vermont as the state capital Montpelier's downtown was under deep floodings, prompting the activation of rescue teams.

An Aljazeera report said US President Joe Biden had already declared an emergency in Vermont and he tasked the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help coordinate disaster relief efforts and provide assistance to those in need.

Meanwhile, heavy downpours with chances of flash floods have been forecasted in parts of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. This as flash floods had already brought destruction in New York and the Green Mountains region of Vermont.

University of Miami Professor of Atmospheric Sciences Brian Soden noted that as the climate gets warmer, the public should even expect intense rain events to occur.

When it comes to high temperature, tens of millions of individuals from Florida to California are being alerted and are already preparing themselves for more heatwaves.

A new three-day heat advisory was issued to residents of south Florida, just days after successive temperature records were broken in the Miami metropolitan area.

The National Weather Service said a buildup of dust in the atmosphere all the way from the Sahara desert was lowering rain chances and keeping the temperatures on the rise.

The occurrence of El Niño contributed a lot on this blazing temperature, Mann said.

Apart from the abnormal warming of sea surface temperature in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, the El Niño phenomenon is characterized by below-normal rainfall.

Related Video: