Forced Changes in the North Atlantic Storm Track Over the Last Millennium

Abstract The North Atlantic storm track largely affects the regional weather and climate in Western Europe and the Eastern United States. While recent and projected changes in the storm track due to human emissions have been extensively studied, the storms' response to natural forcings in past...

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Main Authors: O. Hess, R. Chemke
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2025-08-01
Series:Geophysical Research Letters
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL115894
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author O. Hess
R. Chemke
author_facet O. Hess
R. Chemke
author_sort O. Hess
collection DOAJ
description Abstract The North Atlantic storm track largely affects the regional weather and climate in Western Europe and the Eastern United States. While recent and projected changes in the storm track due to human emissions have been extensively studied, the storms' response to natural forcings in past centuries is largely unknown. Using climate model simulations of the pre‐industrial millennium, we find that natural forcings acted to intensify the summer storm track over multi‐centennial timescales, with minor impacts on the winter storm track. In contrast to the human‐induced larger warming of high latitudes relative to low latitudes, which has weakened the summer storm track, natural agents cooled high latitudes more, enhancing the meridional temperature gradient, which intensified the storm track. This study highlights the unprecedented impacts of human emissions relative to the last millennium's natural forcing agents and the importance of including natural forcings in model projections.
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series Geophysical Research Letters
spelling doaj-art-a03375c6e3824836bf91f35f5ea9db312025-08-20T03:41:54ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072025-08-015215n/an/a10.1029/2025GL115894Forced Changes in the North Atlantic Storm Track Over the Last MillenniumO. Hess0R. Chemke1Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences Weizmann Institute of Science Rehovot IsraelDepartment of Earth and Planetary Sciences Weizmann Institute of Science Rehovot IsraelAbstract The North Atlantic storm track largely affects the regional weather and climate in Western Europe and the Eastern United States. While recent and projected changes in the storm track due to human emissions have been extensively studied, the storms' response to natural forcings in past centuries is largely unknown. Using climate model simulations of the pre‐industrial millennium, we find that natural forcings acted to intensify the summer storm track over multi‐centennial timescales, with minor impacts on the winter storm track. In contrast to the human‐induced larger warming of high latitudes relative to low latitudes, which has weakened the summer storm track, natural agents cooled high latitudes more, enhancing the meridional temperature gradient, which intensified the storm track. This study highlights the unprecedented impacts of human emissions relative to the last millennium's natural forcing agents and the importance of including natural forcings in model projections.https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL115894
spellingShingle O. Hess
R. Chemke
Forced Changes in the North Atlantic Storm Track Over the Last Millennium
Geophysical Research Letters
title Forced Changes in the North Atlantic Storm Track Over the Last Millennium
title_full Forced Changes in the North Atlantic Storm Track Over the Last Millennium
title_fullStr Forced Changes in the North Atlantic Storm Track Over the Last Millennium
title_full_unstemmed Forced Changes in the North Atlantic Storm Track Over the Last Millennium
title_short Forced Changes in the North Atlantic Storm Track Over the Last Millennium
title_sort forced changes in the north atlantic storm track over the last millennium
url https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL115894
work_keys_str_mv AT ohess forcedchangesinthenorthatlanticstormtrackoverthelastmillennium
AT rchemke forcedchangesinthenorthatlanticstormtrackoverthelastmillennium