The Arctic sea ice over the North Pole is melting – faster than humans have ever witnessed – as a result of climate change. How does this affect the weather elsewhere, though? Does it? We wanted to know if people outside the Polar Circle would experience more extreme weather as a result of the melting.
We entered predictions for sea ice loss as input into a climate model. The goal was to estimate the number of warm, cold, wet, and dry days as a result of the melted ice. According to the model, in more northern locations, like Siberia, Scandinavia, and northern North America, people would experience fewer cold days and more warm days. In addition, Eastern U.S., Central Europe, Siberia, and all of Asia can expect fewer dry days while the Mediterranean, Siberia and northern North America will face more wet days. Lots of changes in store, right? And not just in the Arctic!