We’ve all heard about the devastation taking place in the middle of our country. With the destructive influx of tornadoes and overwhelming amounts of rain, the Middle West has been in overload for the last 2 months. Some people blame the “world ending” for all these weather mishaps, however scientifically there is a very logical explanation for this occurrence.
It all has to do with trade winds, the jet stream, and La Niña. La Niña is the term used to describe the movement of the trade winds over the Pacific Ocean, which has a cooling effect on the seas. So what does this have to do with the storms? Well, this year La Niña has bid her goodbye a bit early, which has off-balanced the stabilization of the jet stream. The jet stream includes contradicting temperatures of air moving in a quick current. This jet stream is originally supposed to be significantly more north than it is currently. The mixture of the cooler and warmer air in the jet stream is the perfect equation for disaster.
The uncontrollable combination of cool and warm air is what causes storms to form, and the extremity of the temperature differences dictates the severity of the storms. The tornado taken place in Joplin, Missouri, this past weekend has left an estimated 122 people dead. These storms are spread from Wisconsin to Texas, and are still rolling in. When will it stop? Nobody can truly know.