Extreme Weather May Be The New Normal

13:01

June 10, 2011

This frame grab from video shows a massive tornado on May 22, 2011, outside Joplin, Mo. The tornado tore a 6-mile path across southwestern Missouri killing at least 89 people. (AP/tornadovideo.net)

Here & Now Guest:

Stu Ostro, senior meteorologist at the Weather Channel

From floods to blizzards to wildfires, droughts and tornadoes, 2011 has seen some of the most extreme weather in decades. What's fueling Mother Nature's fury?

Stu Ostro, senior meteorologist at The Weather Channel tells Here & Now, "I'm skeptical by nature. It's a healthy part of the scientific process and we've had wacky weather since the beginning of time, but I started seeing patterns in weather that were not explained by natural variability."

Google Map of Recent Disasters

Ostro says climate and weather are fundamentally linked.

He adds, "It makes sense that if the climate is changing, the weather will change. And what were seeing today is consistent with what we would expect to see in a warming world."

This segment aired on June 10, 2011.