Birkel, Climate Reanalyzer cited in BDN article on warming arctic fueling nor’easters
The Bangor Daily News spoke with Sean Birkel, Maine’s state climatologist and a research assistant professor at the University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute, for an article about a new study that found recent nor’easters could have been fueled by warming temperatures in the Arctic. Birkel said while a scientific cause-and-effect between the warming Arctic and more frequent nor’easters has not been proven, data reported in the study suggests a correlation between the two. Birkel, who tracks weather patterns and forecasts at UMaine’s Climate Reanalyzer website, said there has been a correlation between warm spells in the Arctic and winter storms in Maine specifically, according to the article. Periods of unusual winter warmth occurred in the Arctic earlier this winter, too, at the same time that Maine was gripped in a deep freeze in late December and early January, Birkel said. Maine Public carried the BDN report.