I can't believe it.....it's june 25th and I'm wearing a jacket. The weather was 34 degrees celcius in N.W.T last weekend and we froze in Toronto. All I can think of is the world is changing. I'm not one to wrap myself up in the doomsday theory of global warming...but I must say....I'm getting a little confused as to why in Toronto is 18 degrees cel. but in N.W.T. It's going to go to 20 or 21. There can be no other explanation...can there? Any ideas?
The main reason why it's recently warmer than usual in the north compared to the south (like Toronto) is because there is a ridge of high pressure in the west which is bringing very warm air northward. The ridge extends as far as northern Yukon and all this warm air that is being brought up from the south is causing areas like N.W.T to be warmer then the east ... where the jet stream is bringing cooler air southward from the north. This image shows it very well: Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! You can see how the jet stream extends up into the northwest and then drop back down cutting across Saskatchewan and running parallel to the border east of Manitoba. There are better detailed maps which shows this but they are too large to post. I wouldn't be so hasty in saying this is all because of global warming. I'm more inclined to say this is more of a short term event then a sign of worst things to come.
Did you see that recent PBS program? http://www.wgbh.org/schedules/program-info?program_id=743925&episode_id=1570188 They showed some photos taken many years ago and compared the landscape to the present as well as the dead forests and the increase of peat boggs as the permafrost melts. Interesting stuff. Maybe your strange weather does have something to do with us humans.
Just so that my stance of the issue isn't misinterpreted ... I'm not saying that the occurance of unusual weather patterns such as the above fore-mentionned has nothing to do with us. We do have some form of impact on weather patterns and climate shifts but we are by no means solely responsible of it. The question that should be asked is how much of the visible changes can we attribute to our existance and our activities on the planet.
