One Climate Forecaster Is Very Worried About the Weather this Autumn and Winter

Late last month an Icelandic volcanic called Grimsvotn erupted and sent a large ash cloud into the atmosphere. The following video shows some of the ash the volcano sent into the atmosphere:

The primary concern many people had was that Grimsvotn’s ash cloud might disrupt air travel in Europe like Eyjafjallajökull's (another Icelandic volcano) ash cloud did last year. However, Grimsvotn’s ash cloud did not pose the same level of danger to European air travel as Eyjafjallajökull's ash cloud did, and Grimsvotn's eruption was officially declared over on May 30.

The reason I mention Grimsvotn nearly a month after its eruption ended is that one professional climate forecaster is now deeply concerned that the large amount of ash that Grimsvotn sent into the atmosphere is going to have a major, adverse effect on the weather in the entire northern hemisphere within the next few months.

I just listened to a podcast featuring an interview with Evelyn Browning-Garriss, a widely respected professional climate forecaster and editor of a climate newsletter. She mentioned in the interview that the large amount of ash that the Icelandic volcano sent into the atmosphere could help bring the worst weather she’s seen in over 35 years in the business of tracking the weather and climate this fall and winter in the northern hemisphere.

• She mentioned that the volcanic ash from the Icelandic volcanic eruption is currently trapped in the arctic air mass. She warned that once the arctic air mass begins to move southwards in autumn the weather in the northern hemisphere could become cooler and wetter than normal.
• She notes that there is currently “extreme” heat in the tropics and “extreme” cold in the north. She is concerned that there could be a lot of storms developing when these vastly different air masses clash this fall and winter in the northern hemisphere.
• She is concerned that farmers, particularly those in the U.S., could face a difficult, wet harvest season.
• She is concerned about the prospect for a difficult spring planting season in the northern hemisphere next year.
• She mentioned that she’s had to look at the 1950s to find similar weather conditions.

You can download the 17 minute podcast interview with Evelyn Browning-Garriss at the following link. I’ve listened to several Evelyn Browning-Garriss interviews in the past and it’s startling to hear the concern in her voice when discussing her fall and winter forecast for the northern hemisphere. She is deeply worried about what the weather could be like a few months from now in the northern hemisphere.

If Evelyn Browning-Garriss’s forecast is accurate then we’ll likely see further global food supply problems, further upward pressure on already record high food prices, and further instability in developing countries where people spend a large portion of their income on food.

As an aside, weather forecasters where I live (California) are predicting rain tomorrow as an unusually cool and wet storm from the Gulf of Alaska arrives. It's very unusual to see rain this time of year where I live (it's rained only 3 times since 1877 on June 28).