Two deadly natural disasters this year, the Russian wildfires and the Pakistan floods, may be connected by the Asian monsoon, one of the most powerful atmospheric forces on the planet. The reason why is because the monsoon brings rain and floods to Pakistan and much of the rest of Asia in summer. The air pumped into the upper atmosphere by monsoon winds has to come down somewhere and much of that air seems to be settling over Russia where it's creating high-pressure conditions, which favor heat waves. Circulation patterns such as the one described above are usually normal but they're also being enhanced by rising sea temperatures due mostly to global warming. This doesn't come as a surprise to me as, the more environmental news I read, the more I make a connection between everything and how global warming is really taking its toll on our Earth. Pakistan has had its worst flood in 80 years, which has affected nearly 14 million people and Russia has had the worst heat wave ever. The link between the Russian fires and the Pakistan floods "is a great example that things that happen in the atmosphere don't occur in isolation"
Link to site: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/08/100812-russian-wildfires-pakistan-floods-global-warming-science-environment/
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