Publication Date June 9, 2013 | Jeff Masters

Extreme Jet Stream Pattern Triggers Historic European Floods

Germany
Aerial view of the flooded Danube River in Deggendorf, Germany on Friday, June 7, 2013. Photo: AP/Armin Wegel
Aerial view of the flooded Danube River in Deggendorf, Germany on Friday, June 7, 2013. Photo: AP/Armin Wegel

A historic multi-billion dollar flood disaster has killed at least eighteen people in Central Europe after record flooding unprecedented since the Middle Ages hit major rivers in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland and Slovakia over the past two weeks...The primary cause of the torrential rains over Central Europe during late May and early June was large loop in the jet stream that developed over Europe and got stuck in place...We are now in a new climate regime with more heat and moisture in the atmosphere, combined with altered jet stream patterns, which makes major flooding disasters more likely in certain parts of the world, like Central Europe.

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