With the frigid air and severe impacts hitting the central US last week, there has been a lot of discussion in the news and in the hallways about whether or not climate change is making cold outbreaks like these more likely. One rationale for why it might is that with the Arctic warming up so much faster than the tropics, the waves in the atmosphere that move around the globe are getting wavier, allowing areas of unusually cold air to bulge to the south and warm air to bulge north. But not all scientists are convinced that climate change is to blame, which has led to some lively discussions at professional meetings I have attended in the past. Here are two good articles which describes the problem and why scientists do not agree on the answer to this question, from Vox.com here and The Independent here.
