This is a NASA satellite image of the deadly tornado that tore through Western Massachusetts. On June 1, an EF3 tornado touched down in Westfield, intensifying as it traveled due east, until it reached Springfield. Footage of the vortex moving through downtown Springfield is particularly startling to lifelong Northeasterners like yours truly, who may be used to crazy volatile weather, but not this kind of crazy volatile weather.

The supercell thunderstorm and the tornado it caused killed at least four people in Western Mass, and while this freak event may be unusual, it's not unheard of. The deadliest tornado in Massachusetts history -- indeed, one of the deadliest in our nation's history -- struck Worcester in 1994, killing 94 people. And last week's tornado, tragic and scary as it was, was far from the most destructive this year.

During this particularly intense tornado season -- it's already the deadliest and most destructive in decades -- many environmentalists and members of the media are asking about the potential connection to climate change. The short and unsatisfying answer is: we don't really know. It's complicated.

Andrew Freedman of Climate Central best explained these frustrating unknowns for us back in April. Though as a recent cover story for Newsweek ("Weather Panic: This is the new normal") and a tongue-in-cheek Washington Post Op-Ed by Bill McKibben ("A link between climate change and Joplin tornadoes? Never!") make clear, it's getting harder and harder to leave climate change out of the discussion.

To paraphrase Joe Romm at Climate Progress: it'd be irresponsible to make a straightforward connection between tornadoes and climate change. But it'd be just as irresponsible not to discuss the potential for a connection, and to work to better understand that potential.

Image: NASA Earth Observatory, created by Jesse Allen, using Landsat data provided by Julia Barsi of the Landsat Project Science Office