Climate change and slow moving weather

Over the last year or so, floods have been caused both in the US and Australia (if not elsewhere?) by slow moving weather systems.  On the radio this morning, I heard someone talking about the cyclone that hit Airlie Beach in March 2017, and it reminded me that it had taken a long time to pass over the town.

At the Conversation, there's an article explaining that there is a plausible link with climate change warming:

There does seem to be a plausible link between human-induced warming, slowing of jet streams, blocking highs, and extreme weather around the world. The recent Tasman Sea blocking high can be added to that list, along with other blocking highs that caused unprecedented wildfires in California and an extreme heatwave in Europe last year.

There is also a trend for the slowing of the forward speed (as opposed to wind speed) of tropical cyclones around the world. One recent study showed the average forward speeds of tropical cyclones fell by 10% worldwide between 1949 and 2016. Meanwhile, over the same period, the forward speed of tropical cyclones dropped by 22% over land in the Australian region.

Climate change is expected to weaken the world’s circulatory winds due to greater warming in high latitudes compared with the tropics, causing a slowing of the speed at which tropical cyclones move forward.

Interesting.