For Munich Re, which puts billions of dollars on the
line by backing up insurance companies, there's little doubt that the damages from severe thunderstorm outbreaks are linked with global warming, although this year's outbreak in the U.S. may have also been related to the emergence of a pool of extremely warm water off the
coast of South America, which also
caused deadly flooding in Chile, Peru, and Colombia.
Depending on how far east winter storm tracks travel up the east
coast, the battle
line between cold arctic air masses to the west and warm Atlantic air to the east
causes significant temperature changes.