Snow is Weather, and Climate Change Continues

Brendan Smialowski / Getty

Climate change means there will be bigger and more intense storms all over the world. That’s why the big snowstorm of 2010, “Snowpocalypse” which only affected a  very tiny portion of the planet, does not disprove global warming. In fact, it does more to show it’s progressing.  The additional moisture in the air, combined with the increase power caused by increased heat in the oceans, will lead to stronger storms, including snowstorms.

As the meteorologist Jeff Masters points out in his excellent blog at Weather Underground, the two major storms that hit Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., this winter — in December and during the first weekend of February — are already among the 10 heaviest snowfalls those cities have ever recorded. The chance of that happening in the same winter is incredibly unlikely.

But there have been hints that it was coming. The 2009 U.S. Climate Impacts Report found that large-scale cold-weather storm systems have gradually tracked to the north in the U.S. over the past 50 years. While the frequency of storms in the middle latitudes has decreased as the climate has warmed, the intensity of those storms has increased.

From Time. For a more scientific source, see this:

“In a warmer future climate…Models project increased summer dryness and winter wetness in most parts of the northern middle and high latitudes. Summer dryness indicates a greater risk of drought. Along with the risk of drying, there is an increased chance of intense precipitation and flooding due to the greater water-holding capacity of a warmer atmosphere. This has already been observed and is projected to continue because in a warmer world, precipitation tends to be concentrated into more intense events, with longer periods of little precipitation in between. Therefore, intense and heavy downpours would be interspersed with longer relatively dry periods.
Source: IPCC AR4 WGI FAQ 10.1

From The Skeptic:

The 30 major droughts of the 20th century were likely natural in all respects; and, hence, they are “indicative of what could also happen in the future,” as Narisma et al. state in their concluding paragraph. And happen they will. Consequently, the next time a serious drought takes hold of some part of the world and the likes of Al Gore blame it on the “carbon footprints” of you and your family, ask them why just the opposite of what their hypothesis suggests actually occurred over the course of the 20th century, i.e., why, when the earth warmed – and at a rate and to a degree that they claim was unprecedented over thousands of years – the rate-of-occurrence of severe regional droughts actually declined. (source: CO2 Science)

There is growing empirical evidence that warming temperatures cause more intense hurricanes, heavier rainfalls and flooding, increased conditions for wildfires and dangerous heat waves.

And finally, written by James Hansen in his latest book, Storms of my Grandchildren:

“But an increase in maximum storm strength and an expansion of [...]

Related Posts

Comments are closed.