In North Carolina, one of the biggest and most obvious indicators of climate change is the radical reduction in snowfall. When I was growing up in the 1960s and 70s, almost every year we got a 4-inch snow, maybe one or two more in the 2-inch range, and a couple rounds of freezing rain. Sometimes the year's Big Snow would reach 8 to 12 inches. In the mountains of western NC, it used to snow almost every week in the winter. The town of Boone would go through most of January and February without seeing the ground. Now, our mountains get about the same snowfall pattern as what we used to see in the rest of the state. Areas east of the mountains get more than a dusting only about once every five years. Overnight, we received 5 inches in Winston-Salem. Local news stations talked at length about how rare this is. I'm not sure if the new people have all forgotten the 70s, or if they weren't here at the time, or maybe they simply don't want to acknowledge global warming, which is still not widely accepted here as fact. I am aware that northeastern cities such as Boston have seen a substantial increase in snowfall in recent years. Do any of you live in other areas where snow pattern have changed substantially? Is there any local reaction?
This a cool site with a lot of climate average / record statistics: http://www.weatherbase.com BTW, this is not a long-term pattern by any means, but here in Central Illinois we have gotten double the average snowfall two years in a row, nearly 50 inches instead of 25 inches per winter. But be wary of looking at short-term trends as the result of global climate change. The impact of global warming/climate change will be an increase in average temperatures IN MOST PLACES, coupled with an increase in extreme weather events and greater unpredictability.
Increased atmospheric thermal energy enables winter storms to move further south, and get down here more quickly. That's why it puzzles me to see the local trend toward reduced snowfall. Maybe it is a meaningless temporary change, as you said. Maybe it is Murphy's Law. Probably it will start snowing more often if I get rid of my 4WD Jeep.
...and just yesterday, the US government released its first report documenting that global warming has indeed already altered precipitation throughout the country.
It seems the problem is caused by a warmer atmosphere. The warmer the atmosphere, the more moisture it's able to hold: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090817190638.htm. I noticed two winters ago that Toronto was getting more snow than it had in years. Last summer was worse for rain, but this summer was just colder and it didn't become warm until August. Well, summer came and went in less than a month and the rainy fall is here. This is just local for us, and the article I linked says that the increase in moisture isn't global. It's that a warmer atmosphere makes for slower condensation of water (cloud formation) and more moisture being carried through the atmosphere to various regions. So there will be more rain and snow for some regions, and more droughts for others. I just feel like I might as well move to Montreal the way things are going... Azure
