First, though, as I've reported, scientists a decade ago not only predicted the loss of Arctic ice would dry out California, they also precisely predicted the specific, unprecedented change in the jet stream that has in fact caused the unprecedented nature of the California drought. Study co-author, Prof. Lisa Sloan, told me last week that, "I think the actual situation in the next few decades could be even more dire that our study suggested."
Back in 2004, Sloan, professor of Earth sciences at UC Santa Cruz, and her graduate student Jacob Sewall published, "to simulate the effectsof reduced Arctic sea ice," and "their most striking finding was a significant reduction in rain and snowfall in the American West."
"Where the sea ice is reduced, heat transfer from the ocean warms the atmosphere, resulting in a rising column of relatively warm air," Sewall said. "The shift in storm tracks over North America was linked to the formation of these columns of warmer air over areas of reduced sea ice." In January, Sewall wrote me that "both the pattern and even the magnitude of the anomaly looks very similar to what the models predicted in the 2005 study
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/03/07/3370481/california-drought/
Back in 2004, Sloan, professor of Earth sciences at UC Santa Cruz, and her graduate student Jacob Sewall published, "to simulate the effectsof reduced Arctic sea ice," and "their most striking finding was a significant reduction in rain and snowfall in the American West."
"Where the sea ice is reduced, heat transfer from the ocean warms the atmosphere, resulting in a rising column of relatively warm air," Sewall said. "The shift in storm tracks over North America was linked to the formation of these columns of warmer air over areas of reduced sea ice." In January, Sewall wrote me that "both the pattern and even the magnitude of the anomaly looks very similar to what the models predicted in the 2005 study
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/03/07/3370481/california-drought/
