Earth is warming. Why is California having a record-breaking winter?
All this winter weather may seem to be at odds with the hotter, drier California that scientists expect with climate change, as greenhouse gas emissions raise global temperatures. But that trend is taking place over longer timescales, across the entire planet. What happens in California from year to year — or even winter to winter — can vary dramatically and still fit into the bigger story, scientists say. … Some scientists also think that atmospheric warming can change how air masses move around the planet by altering jet streams, strong winds that travel about 5-9 miles above the Earth’s surface. As a result, cold air masses can move farther south, toward California.
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