Why Climate Change Gives Wind Extra Gust-o

Welcome back to Climatific, a free, weekly read that breaks down climate science so it makes sense- not for scientists or researchers, but for everyday people trying to understand the planet we live on, what’s happening to it, and why it matters.

Good evening! Technical difficulties kept us from being timely this morning. Enjoy this issue as an evening read rather than a morning one!

Tune in for a discussion of how climate change is impacting the frequency and severity of wind.

Thanks to one of our readers for this topic suggestion!

It’s important to know why wind exists in the first place before we talk about how climate change is influencing it.

What drives wind is temperature differences. The mixing of cold air from the poles and warm air at the tropics affect atmospheric pressures that push air around the globe.

To understand the other climate change impacts that are affecting wind, you just need to know these two terms:

Polar vortex (below in pink): A large band of cold air that hovers 10 miles up in the atmosphere and encircles the North pole.

Polar jet stream (below in teal): A narrower band of winds closer to Earth’s surface that sits below the polar vortex and separates cold air at the North pole from warmer air at mid-latitudes.

Scientists have known about the polar vortex and the polar jet stream since the 1850s. They’re highly connected to one another, and have an extremely strong influence on observed weather patterns through the way they oscillate.

We feel the effects of these oscillations all the time. They’re the difference between stable, mild winter weather (which is when the bands look more like they do on the left) and cold snaps and severe winter storms (which is when the bands get unruly and look like the right):

Oscillations depend on the strength of the polar jet stream and the polar vortex, which are affected by a million different factors, like temperature, El Niño events, the Earth’s rotation… the list goes on.

When the polar vortex is stable, the polar jet stream acts as a wall, keeping super cold weather from reaching lower latitudes. When the polar jet stream is weakened from outside influences, though, it can cause the jet stream to wobble and send uncharacteristically cold weather down to lower latitudes, and warmer air from mid-latitudes up toward the North pole.

It’s like molding a pot on a potters wheel, except you pull your hands away while it’s still running, and then the rim of the pot gets all wonky. This guy gets it:

Here’s where climate change comes in.

Basic physics tells us that adding heat increases motion. We also know that greenhouse gases trap heat.

Too many greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increase the energy in the atmosphere and exacerbate these otherwise natural oscillations. Plus, climate change is warming the Arctic faster than the rest of the planet, which also destabilizes the jet stream.

More heat = more energy = more moisture = more volatility = more problems.

The impacts of climate change on wind aren’t straightforward because there are many factors involved, and the impacts play out on regional scales. Wind is also a very underexplored element of climate change studies as it has only been studied for 70 years.

What we do know is this:

🌪️Average peak wind speeds in severe storms are increasing.

19 miles per hour. The average increase in North Atlantic wind speeds between 2019 and 2023. (Data older than this is somewhat limited, but still generally supports that average wind speeds during storms are getting stronger.)

🌪️Storm-related wind damage is increasing.

>40. The number of hurricanes that moved up a hurricane category as a result of the 19-mph increase in peak speeds observed from 2019-2023.

While we are not attributing increased billion-dollar weather and climate disasters to wind alone, the influence of wind on storm severity makes these statistics worth noting:

$115 billion. The cost of billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in 2025. Last year was the 15th consecutive year with an above-average number of such events (23 of which occurred in the United States alone), claiming 276 human deaths. (For reference, the annual average number of billion-dollar weather and climate disasters held since 1980 is nine, costing $67.6 billion.)

🌪️Average surface wind speeds might be decreasing.

10%. Projected decrease in average annual wind speeds by 2100. This is because we’re growing more plants and constructing more buildings, so there are more things to stop the wind. It’s also because the Arctic is warming faster than the tropics, so the temperature difference that normally drives air circulation is… gone with the wind?

I’ll see myself out.

We’re sure you’ve heard- there’s a 99.9% scientific consensus on climate change, and there has been for quite some time.

But one of the biggest problems in climate communication is that unequal weight is given to both sides of the argument. Those with motives to delay action on climate change like to emphasize the the 0.01% who are unsure (or who are sure, but have motives not to acknowledge human-caused climate change).

Next week, we’re giving the 99.9% of climate scientists their time to shine. We’ll dive into why climate scientists say so confidently that the planet is warming, humans are doing it, and it’s happening now.

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Does this describe you? If so, welcome aboard.

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