Snow No! It’s Global Warming!

The volume, frequency and devastation of earthquakes, tsunamis, snowstorms and rainstorms recently has had some calling it a sign of the end of world. While others are using it as proof that global warming isn’t real (in fact, a recent Gallup Poll found that 48% of Americans now believe that the "seriousness of global warming is generally exaggerated," up from 41 percent last year). The truth of course lies somewhere in between, the world is going to end, but it’s not going to happen this year, these things take time. But Global Warming is real, the problem is in the branding. Logic would follow that if we’ve messed up the planet and ice caps are melting and everything is getting warmer than we shouldn’t have MORE snowstorms, we should we wearing t-shirts in February right?

Of course Al Gore the spokesperson for climate change awareness had to defend the idea that heavy snowfall is no reason to think everything is A-OK. In a recent New York Times Op Ed he wrote:

"The heavy snowfalls this month have been used as fodder for ridicule by those who argue that global warming is a myth, yet scientists have long pointed out that warmer global temperatures have been increasing the rate of evaporation from the oceans, putting significantly more moisture into the atmosphere — thus causing heavier downfalls of both rain and snow in particular regions, including the Northeastern United States. Just as it’s important not to miss the forest for the trees, neither should we miss the climate for the snowstorm."

I read a little more about it and it turns out that as the planet gets warmer rain and snowfall get heavier (by about 10-20 percent) , with the more intense storms will most likely to happen in late autumn, winter, and early spring. Aside from the obvious problems like flooding, power outages, snow and down tree removal and the associated costs to already strained infrastructure. There’s the irony that more precipitation might actually mean less useable water. Basically reservoirs will fill earlier than normal, and snow will melt earlier in the year, which will put the water runoff all into spring rather than being able to draw it out through summer. The systems that can't hold an entire season of runoff all at once will be challenged to meet the demands of their water customers later in the season.

So maybe it’s confusing to call it “global warming” because the name only covers part of the cause and not the whole problem. But climate change by any other name still spells the same result.

Americans More Confused About Climate Than Ever

Snowmageddon Is A Sign Of Global Warming

Global Warming Water Shortage