Publication: Yahoo News and The Guardian 

UCLA Expert: Daniel Swain, UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability 

Synopsis: Yahoo News reports on why climate change is likely leading to more dangerous, and therefore devastating, tornadoes. The Guardian shares how warmer winters, which may seem like a blessing, can actually wreak havoc. 

UCLA News: Swain offers insight into the relationship between tornadoes and climate change, a relatively new-to-research topic. “The strongest statement that can probably be made about tornadoes and climate change so far is that there really isn’t a clear historical signal, but that there is increasingly strong evidence from climate model simulations that tornado-producing environments may occur more frequently in the future, particularly in winter.” 
Swain also shares the importance of snowpack on ecology and resilience. “Not only is the actual rate of warming faster in colder seasons and places – like the Arctic, which is warming three times faster than other places – but also a lot of impacts that are associated with warming are amplified … Winter warming affects the frozenness — or not — of things, which is ecologically important for the accumulation of snowpack and the water supply.” 

Read more at Yahoo News and The Guardian