Image

How Cold Was It?

Hard to believe with the beginning of summer approaching, but only four months ago it was so cold that much of Woods Hole Harbor froze. Scientists at WHOI and elsewhere have pointed to a warming Arctic as a likely driver of a variable jet stream that brought cold, dry air into the region. Three years ago the jet stream brought unseasonably warm winter weather to much of the East Coast, including Woods Hole, causing coastal waters to warm with untold impacts to ecosystems and commercial fishing grounds. (Photo by Brian Guest, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)