Perhaps folks who are having trouble understanding how record-breaking snowstorms on the East Coast could be happening if global climate change is real, would find this piece at The New Republic, written by Bradford Plumer, helpful. Brad quotes meteorologist Jeff Masters (emphasis in original):
There are two requirements for a record snow storm:
1) A near-record amount of moisture in the air (or a very slow moving storm).
2) Temperatures cold enough for snow.It’s not hard at all to get temperatures cold enough for snow in a world experiencing global warming. According to the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, the globe warmed 0.74°C (1.3°F) over the past 100 years. There will still be colder than average winters in a world that is experiencing warming, with plenty of opportunities for snow.
The more difficult ingredient for producing a record snowstorm is the requirement of near-record levels of moisture. Global warming theory predicts that global precipitation will increase, and that heavy precipitation events–the ones most likely to cause flash flooding–will also increase. This occurs because as the climate warms, evaporation of moisture from the oceans increases, resulting in more water vapor in the air.
Brad adds:
Now, that doesn’t mean we can definitively blame this snow monstrosity on global warming—again, it’s hard to attribute any single weather event to long-term climate shifts. (For instance, El Niño may be playing a large role in feeding these storms.) At most, we can say that a warming climate is expected to create the conditions that make fierce winter storms in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic more likely. Or at least it will for awhile: If the planet keeps heating up, then at some point freezing conditions in the Northeast will become very rare, at which point snowstorms will, too But we’re not at that point—the Earth hasn’t warmed that much yet.
There is also a Time article by Bryan Walsh which makes much the same points.
Anyone who still needs help can simply consider Rachel Maddow’s explanation on her show tonight for why climate change is not disproved because it snowed in D.C.: The Mojave Desert in California (and parts of Utah, Nevada, and Arizona) has a very dry climate. Deserts usually do. But it does sometimes rain in the Mojave. But when it does, the Mojave is still a desert.
Weather is not climate. But global climate change does affect local weather patterns.
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