Oddly enough, the vast majority of “winter” storms occur in the “winter.” They occur in cold places, when the amount of thermal energy is at a minimum. They occur when a mass of cold air sweeps through and wedges under warmer, humid air.
The biggest waves in California occur during the winter.
Yet we constantly hear the nonsensical claim that “global warming causes more storms, because there is more energy in the system.”
If you believe that, then next time you want to escape the stormy weather of Hawaii, I suggest a vacation in Antarctica. Thermal energy is very low there, so they must not have many storms. Greenland and other Arctic locations should also be suitable.
Below is a good web page where people talk about the “calm” weather they have encountered in polar regions with very low thermal energy.
http://www.explorersweb.com/polar/
New York has been hit by a number of strong storms this week. A couple of them delayed the US Open Final. Another one struck last night. Not coincidentally, the northeast has seen many record cold temperatures this week.
http://mapcenter.hamweather.com/records/7day/usnortheast.html?c=all
Energy flows across gradients. Batteries have a positive and a negative terminal. A battery with two +1,000 volt terminals would be useless. No electricity would flow between them.
Wind blows between areas of high energy and low energy. Between high pressure and low pressure.
A rock falls off a cliff because of the difference in potential energy between the top and the bottom. A rock sitting in the middle of a high plateau can not fall, despite its high potential energy.
Similarly, storms require both warm and cold. They require both high pressure and low pressure.
If the Arctic warms, we should expect to see fewer storms, not more storms. Like on hot, hot Venus – where they have essentially no storms.