Two studies, published this week in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, have unveiled that a mysterious ‘warm blob’ of water lurking along the West Coast of the United States is probably responsible for the recent weather weirdness, which includes the drought in California and the brutal cold in the East.
The blob is being watched by Nick Bond, a climate scientist at the Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean at the University of Washington, since a year and a half. Bond stated “In the fall of 2013 and early 2014, we started to notice a big, almost circular mass of water that just didn’t cool off as much as it usually did, so by spring of 2014 it was warmer than we had ever seen it for that time of year.”
The patch of water off the West Coast is 2 to 7 degrees warmer than normal. It has possibly contributed to our mild winter and may cause warmer summer. It is 300 feet deep and runs about 1,000 miles in each direction. Bond mentioned that it doesn’t appear that climate change has caused the blob. However, researchers suggest that a high pressure ridge could be causing the blob by trapping heat in the water.
The impact of the warm blob also extends inland. Air that passes over warmer water and reaches the coast brings more heat and less snow. The study reveals that this led to the current drought conditions in California, Oregon and Washington. Although the scientists are still not sure what caused this warm blob, models predict that the blob will remain through the end of this year.