This week, the south braces for another blast of winter weather. An icy layer covers the peaches and oranges of Georgia and Florida. Elsewhere, England faced its coldest December in a long time. As climate change denialists use every example of snow to ring the death knell of global warming, others patiently attempt to explain how these storms already fit within the expected models. This article from Scientific American may help the conversation.
Usually, the debate begins by explaining the difference between local weather patterns and long term climate change. Isolated weather events neither confirm nor reject the prediction models of global climate change. Rather we must look at all of the data to assess the validity of climate change. While we experience this cold streak from arctic air, other areas face different problems as "record high temperatures are currently outnumbering record low temperatures by about two to one." By 2050, the ratio could be 20 highs to 1 low.
So how does this snow storm fit into global warming models? As the arctic sea ice melts due to warmer temperatures, the increase evaporation increases the atmospheric pressure and ultimately affects the jet streams. A U-shaped bulge dips icy arctic air as far south as Florida combined with excess moisture and a paralyzing snow storm develops.
No matter your position on the topic, be sure to stay safe and stay warm!
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