The Scariest Part of This Season’s Weird Weather Is Coming Soon

From:  Slate

Tornadoes, floods, and a heat wave at the North Pole.

By Eric Holthaus

 

The aftermath of a tornado in Rowlett, Texas,on Dec. 27, 2015.  
Photo by Laura Buckman/AFP/Getty Images

 

 

This year’s holiday season has been full of extreme weather, with weird anomalies from coast to coast—like a script worthy of a Syfy network movie.

The week of Christmas was the warmest on record by far for a vast stretch of the eastern United States from Texas to Maine. In Philadelphia, every single day this month has been warmer than normal—if that word even retains meaning during a month like this.

While this month’s extreme weather is primarily due to an atmosphere supercharged by the record-breaking El Niño, it’s also an example of the kind of unnerving meteorological event that’s becoming more likely as climate change plays an increasingly large role in daily weather. The New York Times called it “a fitting end to the warmest year on record.” Together, El Niño and climate change have combined for a year unlike any other in human history—a harbinger of an altered planet.  MORE