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14 Tuesday June 9 2015 ENVIRONMENT CLIMATE CHANGE Maries friends and family are Relaying because Marie has cancer. WHO WILL YOU RELAY FOR By MEAGAN WOHLBERG The seemingly inescapable drought suck- ing moisture from forests in the Northwest Territories could be the product of a lazy meandering jet stream made wobbly by climate change. Mike Flannigan a professor of wildland re at the University of Alberta and former weather forecaster for Environment Canada said recent research suggests the band of fast- moving air that directs high and low pressure NWT res Changing jetstream wreaking havoc on weather systems around the globe is being impacted by the rapidly warming Arctic. Climate change research is suggesting that its becoming more wobbly or lazy and meandering because of the temperature difference between the equator and the North Pole Flannigan said. That differ- ence drives the jetstream and were warm- ing faster at the high latitudes than at the equator so its weakening and getting to be like a lazy river. Flannigans hunch comes from a recent study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research which found that excess heat in the Arctic is weakening certain at- mospheric dynamics like zonal winds and eddy kinetic energy. Whatitmeansisthatweatherpatternsarent being broken up by the usual storms and are instead getting stuck. When the jet stream meanders it parks itself. Last summer you had an upper ridge over the Northwest Territories almost all summer long which usually means hot dry weather Flannigan said. Weve seen this in the past - were familiar with upper ridges and re activity - but usually it doesnt last the whole summer like it did essentially last year. InSwedenhesaidamassivere-thesizeof which hadnt been seen in 40 years - persisted throughout the summer last year because of a large unmoving upper ridge over the coun- try that saw hot sunny weather with no rain. The same was true of the NWT and other parts of western Canada last summer Flan- nigan said. It also meant that certain areas were stuck with rainy low pressure systems. Thats the unusual part that they think is tied to this lazy jet stream phenomenon he said. Some areas got ooding but other areas got drought. More warming more res Though Flannigan said he cant predict this summers weather with any certainty he said active re seasons tend to come in clumps and all indications so far show this years in the NWT will be intense. Weve never had this much re activity this early in my recollection he said. This is unknown territory to have res - intense res - in May. Usually the re season is July. Astheworldwarmsthroughclimatechange Flannigan said re seasons will get longer bring more lightning and draw more mois- ture from vegetation for which current lev- els of rain cannot compensate creating drier fuels for res to consume. Allfutureprojectionssuggestweregoingto get the warming but precipitation is going to stay about the same roughly Flannigan said. Wacky weather re tornados Not only are the res burning deeper and larger than ever before but the extreme com- bination of hot dry windy weather is caus- ing res to take on new characteristics that make them more dangerous for crews to ex- tinguish according to Flannigan. Drier fuels prolonged drought means the potential for very high-intensity res which will have re whirls re tornados very ac- tive spread spotting - where rebrands are carried aloft by the wind and dropped a ki- lometre or two in front of the re and start a new re Flannigan said. Sometimes theyre so intense we get something called a pyroCb which is a re- generated thunderstorm he said noting the NWT has already been exposed to these. Last year Yellowknifers were overcome with apocalyptic black clouds that poured soot-laden rain across the city. Flannigan said such wacky weather could be the new norm. This is what the future may hold. I tell people that weathers really wacky but its going to be even wackier and crazier in the future Flannigan said. PhotocourtesyofNASAGoddardSpaceFlightCenter PhotocourtesyofOregonDept.ofForestryMarvinVetter A lazy meandering jet stream is thought to be responsible for extreme weather like droughts and ooding and is due to a warming Arctic. A re tornado rips through the forest in Oregon in 2013 as part of a massive re complex similar in size to those in the NWT last summer. Intense re behaviour is becoming more of a norm through climate change.