17 F in Peoria; global warming????

See the jet stream and how “up and down” (like a sine wave) it looks? That is what keeps the arctic air mass in the arctic, most of the time. When the jet stream’s profile changes, that is when the arctic air mass gets to us; it did that to much of Europe last year. There was a good article in Scientific American recently about this; here is last year’s article and a good blog post about such matters.

The point is this: the arctic air mass IS warmer than its been before, but it is still bloody cold. And when it reaches us, it feels cold. Think of it this way: suppose it used to be 10 F outside but you live in a well insulated house; it doesn’t feel that bad to you. Then suppose the outside warms up to 15 F but your window breaks. It IS warmer (overall) but YOU will feel a whole lot colder, as 15 F, while warmer than 10 F, is still pretty cold.

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