Climate change is fueling extreme weather and chaos in the jet stream
As the planet warms, shifts in the jet stream are leading to catastrophic flooding and other extreme weather events in regions like West Africa and Europe, according to climate scientist Michael Mann.
Steve Curwood reports for Living on Earth
In short:
- Warming oceans increase atmospheric moisture, intensifying rainfall and flooding events.
- Disruption of the jet stream, worsened by Arctic warming, causes erratic weather patterns and extremes in temperature and precipitation.
- Low-resource countries, especially in the Global South, are hardest hit by these climate impacts, lacking the infrastructure to respond effectively.
Key quote:
"The chaos that is present in Van Gogh's Starry Night is the sort of chaos that is present in our atmosphere right now and again, climate change appears to be making that sort of behavior more common."
— Michael Mann, climate scientist
Why this matters:
Rising global temperatures are making extreme weather events more frequent and severe. Poorer countries, which contributed the least to climate change, suffer the most from its effects, highlighting a need for equitable global climate action and support.
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