Nature
Published March 27, 2019 | 14:00 EDT
When Arctic regions warmed relative to equatorial regions beginning about 12,000 years ago, temperate regions saw substantially less rain- and snowfall, researchers say. Palaeoclimate records from the end of the last Ice Age to some 5,000 years ago and climate simulations indicate that weakening temperature gradients led to weaker mid-latitude westerly winds, weaker cyclones, and less temperate-region precipitation. Currently, the Arctic is warming at rates nearly double the global average, decreasing the equator-to-pole temperature gradient to values similar to those in the period studied.
Corresponding author: Cody Routson, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff –  Cody.Routson@nau.edu