The Year Without Summer

The Vortex 2 tornado research team has been in the field since May 1st and it wasn't until just a couple of days ago that they saw their first tornado. They got the full life cycle of a pretty strong tornado in Wyoming (which I watched live on the weather channel - pretty cool).

The experts have noticed that the number of reported tornadoes is way down this year - about 50% of normal. According to those experts this could be a year without summer for big sections of the country:

The number of deaths and the number of airplanes hit does not seem out of the ordinary this year. Actually, the number of lightning flashes is considerably less than what was reported this time last year. As of June 3, 2009, there have been 5,589,686 flashes, with 6,517,381 reported by June 3, 2008.

One of the reasons for this could be colder-than-normal weather across the northern tier of the country that has suppressed the number of thunderstorms and has significantly reduced the number of tornadoes this year. The number of reported tornadoes so far this year is 685, just over half of the average annual amount, which is 1,297.

According to Long Range Expert Joe Bastardi, areas from the northern Plains into the Northeast will have a "year without a summer." The jet stream, which is suppressed abnormally south this spring, is also suppressing the number of thunderstorms that can form. The ones that do form in areas of the Ohio Valley and West are forming in places with very cold temperatures, which can lead to more electrified thunderstorms than normal this year.

Does Al Gore still get paid if the earth doesn't warm up?

And then there's this:

UN environment chief urges global ban on plastic bags...

Will that get us our summer back?