The normally frigid state of Alaska has been experiencing a scalding heat wave, scientists are blaming the high temperatures on a rogue jet stream.
The jet stream in question usually moves steadily from west to east, but lately it has adopted a more varied pattern, Science Recorder reported. The more the jet stream strays from its usual path, the more erratic the weather. NASA recently photographed Alaska with almost no cloud covering, which is highly unusual.
The phenomenon caused the area of Mcgrath to jump from temperatures of 15 degrees Fahrenheit (a record low for this time of year) to 94 F in only a matter of weeks, according to Nature World News.
"I've been doing meteorology for 30 years and the jet stream the last three years has done stuff I've never seen," Jeff Masters, meteorology director at Weather Underground, told the Associated Press. "The fact that the jet stream is unusual could be an indicator of something. I'm not saying we know what it is."
According to recent study by Rutgers University scientist Jennifer Francis, the jet stream has been moving 14 percent more slowly than it had been in the 1990s, reported Science Recorder.
Francis theorized the jet stream is moving slowly and erratically due to the polar region warming faster than the rest of the world, brought on by the melting of ice and snow cover. The stream usually relies on the temperature difference between the polar and mid-latitude regions to stay steady, but now the gap is not as large.
"It's been just a crazy fall and winter and spring all along, following a very abnormal sea ice condition in the Arctic," said Francis, according to Nature World News. "It's possible what we're seeing in this unusual weather is all connected."
Some scientists don't agree with Francis' connection between the extreme weather and polar ice. They believe the strange temperature jumps are simply a random phenomenon, or could be part of a long-term cycle.
