The past few days and in particular, yesterday, we have seen the worst tornado outbreak ever. I have followed weather and severe storms for over 40 years. On Tuesday evening while watching TWC I saw a time lapsed radar image that covered about 5 hours. In that time there was an explosion of severe thunderstorms that covered thousands of square miles. I have never seen anything like that before. When I awoke yesterday morning there were still active tornado warnings at 8 AM in the morning!
Why is this happening?
I believe that it is due to climate change. Going back to 1980 atmospheric scientists have told us that climate change would bring more severe weather events. This of course is because of the steady increase in greenhouse gas emissions. Now it is hard to connect one weather event with climate change, however there is a strong reason to believe that this outbreak of tornadoes is because of climate change. As water evaporates and becomes water vapor it absorbs heat. This heat is hidden in the water vapor. Clouds form when the water vapor reaches a level of the atmosphere where it is saturated. Clouds form when the water vapor condenses onto a small particle. When water vapor condenses it releases the heat which in turn allows for the cloud to grow bigger. This is how thunderstorms form. Since the earth is warming more water vapor is entering the atmosphere which in turn puts more heat into the atmosphere. This is probably why these storms have formed so fast and become very severe.
What is needed now is a congressional investigation that includes atmospheric scientists who can educate members of congress on climate change. Too many people have lost their lives in the past few days due to inaction on climate change.