The usual suspects have tried to tie the recent onslaught of tornadoes to global warming. It is bad science for the reasons explained below. The Weather Science Let's begin with some basic meteorology: strong (F-2 and -3) and violent (F-4 and -5) tornadoes are caused by the contrast  in temperatures between the poles and the tropics. Bad tornadoes need an active jet stream to ventilate the top of severe thunderstorms. You can see the correlation pertaining to Saturday's tornadoes below. The strong jet stream is in the same general area as the tornadoes that killed 22 people. Tornadoes from 1pm Saturday to 7am Sunday Jet stream winds (250mb chart) up to 150 mph (scale is in knots) in the general  vicinity of Saturday's tornadoes The global warming hypothesis -- which has proven to be correct -- is that the poles would warm much more quickly than the tropics. That means there is, on average, less  temperature contrast between air masses and a less powerful jet stream. Thus,...

This is a situation where people in the areas of the forecasts should closely monitor the weather. Please make sure friends and relatives are aware of the risks -- especially on Saturday. More below on Saturday's storms.   Thursday and Thursday Night The brown area has a significant risk. The area of yellow hatching has an enhanced risk of strong tornadoes. The red area has an even higher risk. Thunderstorms will likely form around mid-afternoon with the higher tornado threat from 6 to 10pm.  Friday and Friday Night The yellow area has a significant risk of tornadoes and/or severe thunderstorms. There is an enhanced  risk of tornadoes in the red area. The hatching is where giant hail (2' or large is forecast to fall). Especially if you live in the red area, keep an eye on the weather Friday. Saturday and Saturday Night I have a bad feeling about Saturday. The first map is SPC's entire forecast area. The yellow is where there is a significant chance of tornadoes/large hai...