Weather Delays - climate change related?

Nora sledding to kill time after our plane to Anchorage got cancelled

The first time I ever came to Kodiak, way back in June of 1985, I remember that my flight got diverted and I had to spend the night on the floor of the Anchorage airport.  But that did not happen again until about 5 years ago.  Since then it has happened a lot.

Just this past month I was in Anchorage twice and each time it took a couple of days to get back due to cancelled flights.  It seems to me this happens FAR, FAR more frequently than it did in the past.  I've noticed that a common weather pattern the past few years is jet of warm air from Hawaii that causes storms in Kodiak and pushes all the cold air down onto the East Coast.  These jets cause long storms - not like the typical storms kind used to come from the side down the Aleutian Chain and pass quickly through.  I remember that that pattern brings colder storms and snow.  When that pattern is set up we used to get a storm every 3 days or so.

Anyway, it seems to me that Kodiak's storms have also gotten more vicious.  The past few years I've noticed a lot more trees blowing down or snapping.  As an archaeologist I also keep records from year to year on storm erosion at various archaeological sites.  I can document that storm damage seems to be getting worse.

But can I definitively say that the new pattern is climate change related?  Well no - but I strongly suspect it is.  I really hope I am wrong and we go back to the old weather pattern of 'sideways' storms from the Aleutians - I MUCH prefer them over the 'pineapple express' jets from Hawaii.  Patrick

Actually a picture from February 2015 - but same pattern and it was freezing out East that year!