A new study to be reported in the next issue of Geophysical Research Letters suggests for the first time that both the California drought and the polar vortex, two extreme weather outcomes from this past winter season, are linked to the same underlying cause: climate change as a result of warming with the accumulation of greenhouse gases. The recent winter was accompanied by severe dry conditions in the West and unusually severe winter conditions in the Midwest and Eastern Seaboard. All of California is officially in a state of drought, but the other areas have finally escaped their relentless wintery conditions.