January 2026 North Hemisphere Atmospheric Dynamics and Rayleigh-Taylor Instabilities driving Weather and Climate. 500hPa Density & MultiSat-IR_ 3D Multivariable Earth Series_ Animation by Diego Fdez-Sevilla PhD

1st January to 1st February 2026

The weather conditions we are seeing around the world during 2026 are the result of an atmospheric pattern that has evolved over the years and that my research has been describing since 2014.

Today once again I share the result of my work to verify its validity against the conditions observed in real time.

2013-2019 Rayleigh–Taylor instabilities in Atmospheric Circulation and Climatie D Fdez-Sevilla PhD DOI:10.13140/RG.2.2.26791.80805 https://wp.me/p403AM-2mI

From Heat waves to Cold waves, from Droughts to Downpours, Wind, Turbulence, Polar Jet stream, Polar Ice cover variations, and even SST, all have one thing in common. All are the result of atmospheric dynamics in motion called Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities. 2025 has shown that the pattern in atmospheric dynamics kept evolving in the recent years and keeps growing in intensity. We have seen simultaneously in the same year and space heat waves and frozen outbursts, same latitude with cold anomalies and warm anomalies, and even for the same location and same month warm and cold anomalies. So what can we expect? Based on previous analyses and actual conditions for me the answer is: a continuation in the evolution of the pattern described throughout the line of research presented since 2013, and current dynamics show the validity of previous conclusions. Whilst Mid latitudes see temperatures plunging, the inside of the Arctic is becoming used to see warm anomalies and precipitation, involved in a global scenario where flooding increase as result of heavy precipitation. My body of work points out that the amount of energy in free state contained at Meridional Latitudes (Equator and Mid Latitudes) is increasing thanks to an enhanced thermal capacity of the atmosphere due to GHGs, together with a reduced capacity of the biotic systems to absorb the energy load contained in the atmosphere from planetary internal and external sources. By using water vapour as the carrier transporting and releasing such extra pool of energy, Mid Lat circulation is forcing its expansion into the Poles, in Altitude triggering processes of Stratospheric Warming, and across Latitudes crushing the Polar domes of high dense air, pushing out cold masses of air and creating a wobbly Polar Jet Stream. Whilst intrusions of warm air into Polar Latitudes melt ice, the masses of cold dense air displaced into Mid-Latitudes generate strong fluctuations in T in short periods of time and promotes cyclonic developments. Such exchange of masses of air with different density, humidity and temperature is triggering a pattern of global mixing dynamics that can be observed as an increase in Rayleigh–Taylor instabilities, driving Weather Developments, heavy precipitation and High and Low T Anom across all seasons. Ultimately, extreme fluctuations in #weather conditions triggered by those Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities threaten the stabilities of #climate regimes. 

 Diego Fdez-Sevilla. Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8685-0206

More at https://diegofdezsevilla.wordpress.com

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Diego-Fdez-Sevilla

https://www.youtube.com/@diegofdezsevilla