Asia Smog May Worsen U.S. Winters

Remember the freakishly bad winter weather and unusually long stretches of subzero days? Air pollution from rapidly developing Asian countries may have been behind them. A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science suggest that Asia’s notorious smog and pollution may be transported to the Pacific region and intensifying the storm track. The researchers behind the study said this change could very well have an effect on global weather patterns. The author of the study, Renyi Zhang, a professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University, added it’s “very possible” that the pollution-related changes are what drove our recent extreme winter, but he noted more research was needed.