Quote from Ricter:
Re the polar vortex last year...
The Winter the Polar Vortex Collapsed
Fri Mar 22, 2013 at 09:31 AM PDT
"The polar vortex was persistently weak from November 2012 through March 2013. At the peak of winter, in mid-January, the polar vortex was split in two by a massive sudden stratospheric warming. Instead of a vortex, very high surface pressure built under a dome of sinking over the north pole. Astonishingly, high pressure over the pole extended from the surface to the mid-stratosphere from late November to mid-March.
<img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/24282/large/PolarVortex20Novto_19Mar2013hgt.ao.cdas.gif?1363876369">
The daily geopotential height anomalies at 17 pressure levels are shown for the previous 120 days as indicated, and they are normalized by standard deviation using 1979-2000 base period. The anomalies are calculated by subtracting 1979-2000 daily climatology, and then averaged over the polar cap poleward of 65°N.The blue (red) colors represent a strong (weak) polar vortex. The black solid lines show the zero anomalies.
"High pressure over the pole pushed the weakened jet stream south over Siberia causing brutally cold weather in north-east Asia. Record smashing snow storms formed off the east coast of the U.S. when the blocked jet stream collided Arctic air with Gulf Stream moisture.
"Paradoxically, this bizarre winter may be tied to the loss of Arctic sea ice. Even more paradoxically, the "Global warming Stopped in 1998" claim touted by climate skeptics may be linked to this winter's bizarre weather.
<img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/24537/large/Nuccitelli2012_Fig1.jpg?1363966136">
"To claim global warming stopped in 1998 overlooks one simple physical reality - the land and atmosphere are just a small fraction of the Earth's climate (albeit the part we inhabit). The entire planet is accumulating heat due to an energy imbalance. The atmosphere is warming. Oceans are accumulating energy. Land absorbs energy and ice absorbs heat to melt. To get the full picture on global warming, you need to view the Earth's entire heat content."
"The substantial build up of heat in the oceans since 1998 combined with an insubstantial increase in the temperature of the atmosphere has destabilized the atmosphere over the oceans. I think, based on recent research results, that this destabilization has led to the rapid increase in sudden stratospheric warmings over the past 15 years."
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Please show that chart going back several hundred thousand years. You might be on to something.