White Christmas? Global Warming?

Question

I live and grew up in Utah. When I was little the winters
were bold and snowy, cold and white. In the past few years
they have just been brown and dry. I am saddened that my
daughter won't get to grow up with the same Winter's that
I experienced when I was a kid- months of snowmen and sledding
and catching snow flakes on your tongue. I don't know if
its because of Global Warming- because I know that the weather
has cycles that are far reaching and this could be, a 100 year
cycle or something... but when I was a kid in Utah, man we
had the best winters. Walls upon walls of snow, igloos, mittens
and snow-ball fights. Now we have brown dirt and leaves blowing
around.. only the majestic Wasatch Front is snow tipped.
Has anyone else seen such a dramatic change in the weather where
YOU live? Tell me about your observations....

Answer 1

I agree with you about what you have observed. I grew up here in Utah as well. I remember what you are talking about and this also concerns me about what my daughter will get to see when she gets old enough to play outside in the winter time. I remember tunneling out the snow banks to build forts and caves all the time. I know that from my weather class that I took there were comments about the global warming and the affect of only 1 degree Celsius can do. It made me more concerned about the affects of global warming. Maybe you should look into studying the affects of global warming. This could give you better insight about what is happening. But, 1 degree Celsius is a change of approximately 34 degrees Fahrenheit. This is a dramatic change in the global climate, which will affect the winters.

Answer 2

In New England there have definitely been some warming trends. For instance, in NH the lake where my grandparents lived had winter car races every year with automobiles equipped with studded tires racing on the lake, and a lot of ice fishing where the men would bring little cabins out on the ice and fish out there with 3 or four guys in the cabin drinking beer. The last few years there has hardly been any ice at all. In southern New England there were several areas where the sea ice use to be strong enough for the fishermen to walk across out it to islands 200 or 300 yards off shore. It has been many years since it was cold enough to form any sea ice at all.

Snow might actually increase with global warming -- warmer winters mean more evaporation of water from the ocean, and that can fall as snow even if the temperature is just a couple degrees below freezing. But to form ice in ponds and especially in the ocean, it needs to be much colder for a longer period. But the snow will alter according to the rainfall patterns, and they are very undependable.

Answer 3

A few years is nothing regarding climate - though to a kid growing up, it is half their life.

During the past several years, an upper air trof has tended to persist over the Great Lakes & east, with a ridge over the west. Several of them have been cool & snowy in the Poconos - 100 inches of snow, but temperatures not much below normal with several stretches of single digits below freezing (minimums). Yet I think the way things are (global warming or whatever is causing warm conditions that we don't understand), those were very cold winters - the like of which will rarely be seen in the near future.

Last winter had less than normal snow & was slightly warmer than normal (January average maximum temperature of 40°).

You'll get your snow again - maybe this year even with El Niño. Yet you are probably cursed regarding this - want to have fun in the snow with your daughter - but when it does come, it won't be the way you want it - had some things happen like that for me which I was waiting for...and the Jews wanted a messiah. Need I say more?

Answer 4

The interesting thing about where I live, is that all my life Winter was a gamble. Some years you had a lot of snow, and some years you didn't The nearest ski resort to where I live installed a water park for the summer months, because the ski season was always iffy. As a matter of fact, The deepest one storm snowfall I have ever seen (3 feet) happened only a few short years ago. So... the way I see it, around here, nothing's changed. Oh... I live in the tri state area of NY NJ and PA.

Answer 5

Ever notice no one mentioned global warming until the Cold War ended? I live in Southern Ontario and haven't noticed a difference. We usually have a white Christmas. Nothing like the 70's though. Perhaps that's what you remember. I remember people being stranded for days back then. Nothing moving but snowmobiles and my VW Bug. I've heard that decade called a mini-ice age. I wouldn't worry about your daughter, she'll see all the weather she wants unless she moves someplace boring like California.