Geography 2152F/G Lecture 5: Reading 2 Questions
7 Dec 2017
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Reading #2 review questions: explain the science behind how el ni o and la ni a are able to influence weather patterns worldwide. During an el nino, a giant pool of warm water that normally sits in the central pacific surges east all the way to south america. During a la nina, it shrinks and retreats into the western pacific. Heat and water vapor coming off the warm pool generate thunderstorms so powerful and towering that their influence extends out of the tropics to the jet streams that blow across the middle latitudes. As the warm pool shifts back and forth along the equator, the wavy paths of the jet streams shift north and south which changes the tracks that storms follow across the continents. An el nino tends to push drenching storms over the southern u. s. and peru while visiting drought and fire on australia. The earth is steadily getting warmer, with significantly more moisture in the atmosphere.
