Climate dynamics
Circulation, variability, and weather extremes
Long observational records reveal how shifts in atmospheric circulation shape regional extremes and complicate the fingerprint of global warming.
Winter waves in the polar jet stream can drive severe cold outbreaks and alter multi-decadal temperature trends. My work extends the record of eastern U.S. jet-stream waviness to 1901 using self-organizing maps and nine temperature and reanalysis datasets.
The reconstruction shows unusually high waviness during the 1960s through 1980s. This circulation pattern contributed roughly two-thirds of the cooling associated with the mid-century U.S. winter warming hole.
The project illustrates a broader interest in how atmospheric dynamics translate global climate change into the uneven weather patterns experienced at the surface.
