Tornadoes and current sea levels?

Question

Tornadoes in February? Is this normal for this region of North America. living north of lake ontario we got the tail ends and lots of snow and killer winds. How about the sea levels being around 90 degrees in northern Australia this time of year. There does happen to have three systems in its place in the indian ocean, and once again is this normal? Global warming looks like it is in play. Sea link is at http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/

Answer 1

this winter has been abnormal

we have had several tornadic storm systems in january and febraury here in the ohio valley. The temperatures have been well above average on many days (60F+) this winter.

Answer 2

January/February tornadoes have been reported several times each decade for the last 100 years.  One of the worst outbreaks in US history occured on Feb 19, 1884 (Google "Enigma Outbreak").  The 1940s and 50s actually saw above average Jan/Feb outbreaks...with 9 seperate outbreaks in a twenty year time period.

Hmmm....1880s....1940s....2000s.... could that be a 60 year cycle?

Answer 3

Yes, following a January that was below the last 100 year average, we have some freak storms.  There is no doubt that global warming caused January to be cooler than normal which, in turn, caused these tornados.

There is more evidence in your question that you suffer from mental retardation than there is evidence of global warming.

Answer 4

Define Normal.  It would be abnormal for there to never be another tornado in the US in February.  It would also be abnormal to have several distinct weather systems come through in February capable of producing tornadoes in the US.

I think a better term would be "unusual".  It is certainly unusual for the US to have such a storm system come through in February, but also quite possible and certainly not an impossibility that has only now occurred in the last few years.

The use of normal, and conversely, abnormal, implies that the presence of a particular situation automatically indicates that something is substantially wrong with this particular weather front.  The truth is, tornadoes are expected most in Spring and early Summer.  However, there is always the possibility of tornadoes in every month as well as recorded history of many such storm systems.

One example that interested me was the rather non-typical sub-tropical storm that formed last year before the defined hurricane season began.  To hear the talk, this was abnormal and it's early arrival was used to imply that global warming was involved.  However, 13 other years in the last 100 or so had storms that formed in the same time frame or earlier than that rather disorganized collection of thunderstorms.  It wasn't possible for me to actually quantify the intensities of all these past storms versus that one last year, but it was possible to see that several of the past storms appeared to be much stronger and better defined than the one last year.

So, was it unusual that the storm formed early last year, yes.  Was it abnormal? No.  Same thing would apply to the tornadoes this year.

Answer 5

There's really nothing abnormal about it.  There have been numerous tornado outbreaks in February.  This is actually the time when systems begin to move across the US.  We are getting ready to enter spring within a month, so I would expect more of the same in the near future.  Think about it...  There was warming going on the SE from a High pressure or low pressure system bringing warm up from the Gulf of mexico, then we had a nasty cold front move across the US from the west.  What happens when cold and warm air mix??  Well you get severe thunderstorms.  This is just weather has nothing to do with climate change, you won't know if this is a cause of global warming until you have a continuous time series of severe weather events happening in February.  As far as Australia it is summer there, so the northern oceans of Australia are closer to the mid-latitude of the earth.  Also it has to do with la nina, la nina tends to bring severe weather to SE of the US.  I wouldn't go crazy on these things just yet, b/c they have happened before, your just noticing now b/c of all the hype of global warming.