Different weather; same system

• Yep, this is unusual; NOAA says so -- and, in part, why


• The odd weather pattern stretches from California to Russia


• It includes the Southwest's drought, the recent blasts of snow, UK flooding


• And it's warming the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi

(CNN) -- It's official: The weather has been a bit weird this winter. The nation's climate agency says so -- and, in part, explains why.

There is method to the meteorological madness.

And it has served to spread the weirdness around the world, from the American West all the way to Russia, a climate expert from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

The drought parching California; those two snowpocalypses in the South; the unrelenting New England snow; the sopping soaking of the UK; short sleeves on Sochi's snow-hungry slopes.

One single weather event has a hand in all of them, said NOAA environmentalist Bill Lapenta.

Vehicles are piled up in an wreck Friday, February 14, in Bensalem, Pennsylvania. Traffic accidents involving multiple tractor-trailers and dozens of cars completely blocked one side of the Pennsylvania Turnpike outside Philadelphia.

A pedestrian walks through a cloud of steam on a snowy street in New York on February 14. Commuters faced slick roads after a winter storm brought snow and ice to the East Coast.

A traveler walks through Ronald Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, on February 14. Numerous flights were canceled and delayed this week as a result of the snowstorm that pounded a huge section of the country.

People dig out vehicles buried in snow in Albany, New York, on February 14.

Chris Starace works to clear snow from his roof in Ossining, New York, on Thursday, February 13.

Snow and ice cover an Atlanta neighborhood on February 13.

People walk through the snow on February 13 in Brooklyn, New York.

The lower Manhattan skyline is seen behind a pile of snow in Brooklyn on February 13.

After spending the night at Reagan National Airport, Ernie Harmon of Long Island, New York, watches a movie while waiting for his flight February 13.

Snow covers cars in Brooklyn on February 13.

Claire Lamborne removes snow from her car in Warrenton, Virginia, on February 13.

A snowman is seen in front of a hardware store in Washington on February 13.

Don Hammond of Newtown, Connecticut, shovels his driveway as snow continues to fall February 13.

A long line of travelers winds around the atrium of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on February 13 as people attempt to catch flights previously canceled because of the massive winter storm.

Rescue workers in Oxon Hill, Maryland, attempt to upright an overturned tractor-trailer on Interstate 495 on February 13.

Snow collects at the base of escalators at the Dupont Circle Metro Station in Washington on February 13.

A postal worker makes his delivery rounds through blizzard conditions in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on February 13.

Motorists push a vehicle on Highway 70 in Raleigh, North Carolina, on February 13, a day after the worst of the storm struck the town.

A man helps push a car in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on February 13.

Snow blankets a street in Ossining, New York, on February 13.

A traveler kills time as work crews continue to clear snow from the runways at Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, on February 13.

A man in Bethlehem helps push a stranded motorist February 13.

Lyall MacFee shovels snow in front of Sciortino's Pizzeria in Albany, New York, on February 13.

A man digs out a small snowplow that got stuck while clearing snow from a sidewalk in Chevy Chase, Maryland, on February 13.

A man braces his umbrella while walking through the wind and snow in New York City on February 13.

Police work to tow a bus that slid off the road in Philadelphia on February 13.

A man walks along the snow-covered Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington on February 13.

A woman covers her face while walking in New York City on February 13.

A worker clears a snowy sidewalk in Washington on February 13.

Cars sit covered in snow on a street in Manassas, Virginia, on February 13.

A man in Philadelphia shields his face from the elements February 13.

A snowplow removes snow from the sidewalk in Washington's Lafayette Park, across the street from the White House, on February 13.

People walk through snow February 13 in the Chinatown neighborhood of New York City.

People help push a car stuck in the snow February 13 in Alexandria, Virginia.

Kevin Miller looks out the passenger window of his friend's car as they sit stuck in traffic during a winter storm in Raleigh on Wednesday, February 12.

Traffic moves slowly along Wade Avenue in Raleigh on February 12. Motorists were encouraged to stay off roads.

Katharine Newton, a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, calls her parents February 12 while walking more than two miles from campus to her parents' home.

Snowplows clear Interstate 75/85 in downtown Atlanta on February 12.

A downed power line is draped across several vehicles in Atlanta on February 12.

A police officer redirects traffic in Charlotte, North Carolina, on February 12.

Ice coats trees hanging over a sign for the Broadway at the Beach tourist attraction in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on February 12.

A sign warns drivers of winter weather as they travel on a bleak section of Highway 141 in Norcross, Georgia, on February 12.

A truck in Bossier City, Louisiana, blocks access to Interstate 220, which was closed because of icy conditions on February 12.

City workers spread a mixture of sand and salt on an intersection in Avondale Estates, Georgia, on February 12.

Ice and snow cover Interstate 26 in Columbia, South Carolina, on February 12.

Shmetrice Moore, a nurse at an Emory University hospital in Johns Creek, Georgia, scrapes snow and ice off her windshield as she and others are released early from their shift on February 12.

Hossam Shalaby waits for his rescheduled flight under a departure board at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Tuesday, February 11.

A vehicle travels in Greenville, South Carolina, on February 11.

People shop for what is left at a Publix grocery store in Decatur, Georgia, on February 11.

Vehicles slowly make their way over a snow-covered Route 35 in Fort Payne, Alabama, on February 11.

Weather data is projected onto the face of Clint Perkins, director of state operations for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, as he works in Atlanta on February 11.

A vehicle drives through falling snow on the U.S. 421 bypass in Sanford, North Carolina, on February 11.

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Southeast storm moves north

Ice storm cripples U.S. air travel

Storm blamed for 100 car pileup

Northeast buried by winter storm

"They are associated with that long-wave pattern, so they are connected in that sense," he said.

That "long-wave pattern" is like a whip that got swung in California and has cracked in all the other places.

A big, sturdy ridge of high pressure air has blustered rain clouds away from California, and at the same time, it has pushed the jet-stream way up into Canada.

What goes up...

In reaction to that, the jet-stream has swung back deeper into the South than usual, carrying Canadian cold with it.

Voila. Snow and ice from Louisiana to the Carolinas.

Then it has whipped back up, helping big storms dump snow over the Northeast.

From there, the same jet-stream has crossed the Atlantic and brought weather that flooded Great Britain in the wettest January there in two and a half centuries.

Down the road a bit, at the Winter Olympics, it's practically springtime in Sochi, and it's that same jet-stream dragging in warmth that's boosting temperatures well above freezing.

But it gets even worse.

The jet-stream is moving slower than in past years, which means that all that ugly weather is hovering over places for longer periods, plaguing them with more of its nastiness than usual.

It has weather-beaten people in many parts of the world groaning the same moan: "I've never seen weather like this before."

Are they exaggerating? Maybe not.

Let's have a look at the season's weather, starting with the whip's handle -- in California -- and follow the jet-stream's lash from there.

Cali-dehydration

Princes pitch in on flood relief efforts

Vehicles slipping and sliding in the storm

Beer saves town from crippling drought

The dryness in California is making its mark in the history books.

The state grows more than the lion's share of the tomatoes used in U.S. processed foods, farmer Mark Borba brags. This year? Zero, he said.

For the first time in its history, the California Water Project - a system of canals and reservoirs that provide water to two thirds of the people in the state's Central Valley -- set its allocation for all of them to zero.

This pertains to people in the country and in cities alike.

Borba blames it in part on bureaucratic tangles between state and local authorities who decide over the water's release.

But that doesn't negate the fact that there is a water shortage.

His farm gets its water from reservoirs 500 miles to his north. This year, they are running on bare minimum.

Further down the jet-stream, there's been precipitation to boot.

Winter blunderland

If you haven't been living under a rock, you've heard about or felt the winter ills that have walloped the nation's Southeast.

About two weeks ago, less than three inches of snow turned the region's largest city into a gridlocked parking lot, where thousands of motorists sat for as much as 20 hours in their cars, while lows dipped into the teens.

Not being able to deal with snow is no surprise for a region that usually gets iced over every ten years or so -- although the last such shellacking came three years ago.

Then this week, a second winter storm polished a path of white from Alabama all the way up to Maine.

Not that the Northeast is not used to snow, after all it's winter, and it's normal there. But the frequency of heavy snows has had leaders in the region huffing for a break.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio greeted reporters covering the storm with the line: "Welcome to winter storm six of the last six weeks."

And as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said before the worst of the storm hit: "This has just been a brutal winter where it never really has gotten warmer. And so the natural melting away of snow and ice is not happening."

Exaggeration or winter storm exhaustion?

It may have been a long-planned vacation, but after the last storm passed, Christie took off with his family for the warmer latitudes of Puerto Rico.

A previous recent snow-thumping wrecked much of his inauguration celebration -- along with that bridge scandal.

Add to that increased frequency of snowfall a quick CNN weather factoid: Over the last week, the continental United States has had snow on the ground in 49 of 50 states.

Oh, Britannia

Following the jet-stream across the North Atlantic, things get warmer, but also, much, much wetter.

London is used to rain, but this? The River Thames has burst its banks.

What British meteorologists say makes it sound like they may have already heard NOAA's Lapenta mention of hovering, long-lasting storms.

The Met Office, the UK's national weather service, said the recent series of winter storms "has been exceptional in its duration, and has led to the wettest December to January period in the UK since records began."

Some communities in low-lying areas in southwest England are looking more like the water-bound city of Venice, Italy. They have been under water since December.

And there's no letup in sight just yet.

Authorities have warned communities along the Thames that more flooding is on its way, as the river reaches its highest level in 60 years.

A powerful Atlantic storm that is blowing in on Friday will add to people's woes.

Where's that coming from? It's what's left of a storm that plastered the United States with snow and ice.

Let it snow!

Photos of Olympic cross-country skiers striding for miles in the snow in short sleeves were all the rage this week.

They illustrate how warm it has been in Sochi, Russia, at the Winter Games. Low temperatures have been well above freezing, and daytime highs have hit the 50's, NOAA says.

Spectators may find it pleasant to walk around in light jackets -- or amusing to sit in the sun in shorts and t-shirts.

But for the organizers, the warm weather, which Lapenta says is strongly influenced by that same jet-stream, has been no laughing matter.

They've had to crank up snow machines to keep some pistes white.

Sochi has been one of the warmest cities to host the winter Games, NOAA says on its website.

But that's not really shocking, the climate agency says.

"Sochi sits in a marginally wintry zone along the Black Sea coast near the Caucasus Mountains," it says.

But with the current jet-stream pattern, marginally wintry does not seem to be enough to hold back balmier air.

Luckily, many events are being held indoors or at higher, colder elevations.

Blasts of warm weather at Winter Olympic Games is nothing new, and it has been worse before.

"In 2010, Vancouver, Canada experienced its warmest January ever recorded," NOAA says.

Snow machines were powerless against it, so organizers had to ship in snow by truck and helicopter.

NOAA advises that the Olympic Committee should consider awarding the Games to cities in solidly cold regions -- as global warming increases.

That leads to a pertinent question that is often on people's minds when the weather goes haywire these days.

Yes or No

Can we chalk this wacko winter up to climate change?

Lapenta would like to know, too. Cracking that code will be very complicated.

But there is something else that baffles his team. Why has the jet-stream gotten to be so slow this year?

"That's an area of research that we're currently investigating. We don't have a clear-cut answer to that question," he said.

If climate scientists can make that connection, it will allow them to better predict weather craziness as much as a month or two ahead of time, Lapenta said.

So we'll all know what we've got coming.

CNN's Miguel Marquez contributed to this report.