Blame Greenland for frigid spring temps

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April 16, 2018 - 11:00 PM

Record lows in Kansas City this past weekend were Greenland’s fault, according to one University of Kansas professor. Greenland, as in the massive, ice-covered island in the North Atlantic Ocean.

“Spring is always pretty variable, and there can be this whiplash of cold and warm and cold again. That’s, in some sense, just life on the Plains,” says David Mechem, professor of geography and atmospheric science at KU.

But the cold has stayed around longer than usual in part because of something called the “Greenland Block.” It’s an atmospheric zone of persistent high pressure hanging above Greenland that steers cold air southwest across North America.

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