Link. "What we’re seeing is consistent with what climate scientists have been predicting for 30 years. As northern latitudes warm the north-south temperature contrast weakens, which triggers a drop in jet stream winds – which become more unstable, with greater north/south swings, what meteorologists call a "high amplitude" pattern. When this happens warm, moist air can be transported unusually far north (helping to rapidly ease drought and trigger record flooding), while unusually cold air can sweep much farther south than usual, sometimes "cutting off" from the main belt of westerly steering winds, causing weather patterns to temporarily stall. In short, the weather has a greater potential to become become stuck.

…90% of warming is going into the oceans, and some of that warmth is showing up in the Arctic, which has lost 70-75% of its ice volume in 50 years, reaching a record low in September, 2012…"