Why is the weather so severe in the Midwest?

Question

I live in Southern Ohio, and this c**p is getting on my nerves! I love thunderstorms but my god! Why is the weather so bad this year? More severe then I've EVER seen it!!! I'm about to get hit by a storm yet again this week.... Is it anything to do with global warming? Just wondering....

Answer 1

It has a lot to do with global climate change (not quite the same as global warming) - the small, yet significant inputs being made by humans (predominantly CO2 into the atmosphere but also many other factors) is causing a system that was in equilibrium (the climate) to move to a new equilibrium balancing the new inputs.

Any time a system - whether it be chemical solutions, mathematics, climate or anything else - moves from one equilibrium to another, there is a period of chaotic behaviour. In terms of weather in your region this will probably mean unseasonal weather; more extremes in hot/cold, dry/wet, big/small storms and; lack of predictability (weather forecasts not as accurate). It will also be very localised - some areas will experience extremes others will experience abnormal calm... and then, a month later, the reverse!

This chaotic period will last so long as the factors involved in the climate continue to change (that is, until, for example, we stabilise CO2 additions to the atmosphere) whereupon it will settle down again into a new equilibrium. What that new equilibrium will be is a different to[pic altogether - it may be a time of sea levels 100m higher than today, it may be a new ice age.

Answer 2

I'm a Iowa Storm Spotter. The weather is definitely more intense this year. I'm not sure why but it does seem to go in cycles. The past several years was not bad at all. There are bad floods here as well as tornadoes and thunderstorms. It seems like its quieting down here though.

Answer 3

First of all, it's NOT global warming.  In fact, the global average temperature has been generally decreasing since 1998, and the U.S. just recorded it's 36th coolest Spring on record.  

The main problem has been that the mid latitude weather pattern has held on to a more early spring-like pattern, with unseasonably strong low pressure systems coming off the north Pacific Ocean across North America.  These have tapped into the usual warm and moist air from the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico and combined with these unseasonably strong low pressure systems have created a more active storm pattern than usual for this time of year.