Proximate Cause Of Record Midwestern Flooding - A Rapidly Warming Eastern Pacific Ocean

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American farmers raising their fists to the sky this year may be better off directing their ire toward the ocean. Abnormally warm water in the eastern Pacific, along with a weak El Nino along the equator, have pumped a train of storms across the U.S. That has soaked fields that need to be planted with corn, soybeans and cotton and slowed barges full of grain, coal and chemicals struggling against the stiff current of the Mississippi and other Midwest rivers.

“The huge region of above-normal ocean temperatures in the eastern Pacific is helping ‘juice’ storms arriving in the U.S.,” said Jennifer Francis, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center in Falmouth, Massachusetts. “Another factor contributing to this year’s wet winter was a strong sub-tropical jet stream, probably boosted by a weak El Nino, that funneled copious moisture from the Pacific Ocean into the U.S.’’

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While the storms will certainly catch the attention of researchers, climate change is also making things worse because the heat puts more energy into the atmosphere and allows it to hold about 7 percent more moisture than pre-industrial times, Francis said.

“That moisture is a potent source of energy for storms and it also fuels heavier precipitation,’’ she said. “One clear symptom of climate change is a large uptick in heavy precipitation events, especially east of the Rockies.’

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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-23/sodden-midwest-farmers-can-blame-warm-pacific-for-juicing-storms?srnd=climate-changed

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