A new study to be published in Geophysical Research Letters and described yesterday in National Geographic News indicates that smoke drifting north from burning farmlands in Central America may have enhanced the atmospheric instability on April 27, 2011, increasing the severity of already extreme tornadoes.
A computer model which simulated the movement of these black particles into the region of storms shows that the particles may have traveled over 1,000 miles to be entrained into the storms’ circulations. Aerosols like these have been shown to increase rainfall downwind of cities and decrease visibility in some foggy conditions. Black soot can also lead to heating of the lower atmosphere, which could make storms more intense.
This is the first study looking at the impacts of farmland clearing by burning on weather events, and scientists are divided about how realistic these simulations are, but they show that events in one place may have the potential to change the weather far away.
