Scientists pinpoint Strange Blob as reason to unusual weather

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/45388/20150411/scientists-pinpoint-strange-blob-of-warm-water-as-culprit-behind-weird-weather.htm

The weather has been weird, and scientists have found that a strange "blob" of warm water is to be blamed. Located off the West Coast, this patch of water is warmer by 2 to 7 degrees Fahrenheit than normal.

Nick Bond, a climate scientist for the Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean, said that scientists started noticing the blob between the fall of 2013 and the early months of 2014. After doing some observations, scientists realized that the mass of water wasn't cooling off as it usually did. When spring of 2014 rolled in, the blob even became warmer - the hottest ever recorded for that area in that time of year.

Bond officially called the water mass "the blob" last June 2014 in a monthly newsletter released in his capacity as state climatologist of Washington. The blob was described as stretching 1,000 miles in every direction and going as deep as 300 feet.

By April this year, the blob has been located off Washington's shores, squished against the coast while extending 1,000 miles offshore between Mexico and Alaska. According to Bond, weather models are indicating that the blob will continue until at least the end of 2015.