Deep Freeze Europe has faced a diff erent weather problem. Normally, winters there are damp and chilly, but not too cold. During two recent winters, though, temperatures there dropped really low. Some days, they never rose above -17°C. Rivers froze. Blizzards buried towns in snow


and trapped people in their homes. One deep freeze lasted for three weeks. Meteorologists looked at the polar jet stream


for clues. T is wind carries freezing air from the Arctic. Normally, it stays up near the North Pole. T is time, though, it dipped south. It blew cold Arctic air across Europe. It even dumped snow in northern Africa! Surprisingly, some meteorologists think


warming may have caused the deep freeze. T ey aren’t quite sure how. T ey think warmer temperatures in the Arctic may be aff ecting the polar jet stream. It may be pushing this wind off its normal path. It will take more weather watching to find out if that’s what’s happening.


Monster Storms Meteorologists also are watching what’s going on with tropical cyclones. T ese giant, spinning storms soak up water and energy from warm seas. T ey’re part of normal weather patterns. Meteorologists fear that a warming planet will fuel bigger and more destructive storms. Tropical cyclones like Typhoon Haiyan


may be a sign of what’s to come. T is monster storm roared across the Pacific Ocean last fall, picking up speed and strength. It slammed into the Phillipines, tossing cars and fishing boats. It ripped roofs off houses and blasted out windows. It flattened whole towns. With winds gusts of up to 380 kph, Haiyan


was the strongest typhoon to hit land. We’ll have to wait and watch weather patterns to find out if more monster storms are coming.


22 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXTREME EXPLORER


Preparing for the Worst T ere’s one thing that meteorologists do predict with confidence. T ey say that Earth will continue to heat up. Temperatures may rise another 4.4°C by the end of this century. As a result, weather experts predict that more extreme weather is on its way. Some people aren’t waiting to find out. T ey


are preparing for the worst. In Bangladesh, for example, the government has built hundreds of cyclone shelters to keep people safe. Farmers also have built floating raſt s out


of a plant that lives in the water. T ey grow their gardens on these raſt s. When cyclones or flooding rains come, the gardens float on the rising water. T ey aren’t destroyed.


A farmer works in his fl oating garden. Gardens like this can survive fl oods.


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