Snowy Warming
Snowfall in Long Island, NY on March 5, 2001. Photo courtesy of NOAA.
JB: This is Earth and Sky. Residents of Syracuse, New York might feel a bit skeptical about global warming.
DB: Winters there are about a meter – or three feet – snowier now than in the early part of the twentieth century. Five of the snowiest winters on record in Syracuse happened in the 1990s. That’s even as global temperatures were rising at an increased rate.
JB: But researchers from Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, suggest that the warming climate itself is to blame for the extra snow. Syracuse is downwind from the Great Lakes, and it gets what’s called “lake effect snow.” It happens because there’s a big temperature difference between warmer lake water and the frigid air from the northeast that blows over it. That difference creates turbulent air, which causes snow.
DB: The researchers suggest that, as we’ve been having longer, hotter summers, the lakes have been getting warmer, and staying warmer – water changes temperature more slowly than air. The air still cools off quickly as the season changes. And that means an even bigger temperature difference between the lake surface and the winter air – and more snow.
JB: These researchers say snow from the Great Lakes shows that a warming climate can affect different regions in different ways. Special thanks today to the Bureau of Land Management and to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. We’re Block and Byrd for Earth and Sky.
The following individual was interviewed for today’s show. Our thanks to:
Adam Burnett, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Geography
Colgate University
Hamilton NY
Additional Teacher Resources
U.S. Global Change Research Program; Climate Change Impacts on the United States: The Future of Lake-Effect Snow: A SAD Story
This article explores the future of lake-effect snowfall in the Great Lakes Region. It discusses the factors that will ultimately contribute to a decrease in annual snowfall in the region, and the larger role that climactic change will play.
Climatehotmap.org. Critical Findings from the First National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change; Great Lakes: The Potential Impacts of Global Warming on the Great Lakes Region
As the single largest source of surface fresh water in the world, the Great Lakes region supports a burgeoning economy in the U.S. While being the linchpin for drinking water, hydroelectric power, commercial shipping, and recreations, the regions also houses an amazingly diverse array of plants and wildlife. This article discusses how global climate change looms as an additional threat on the regions economy, population and wildlife by changing climate patterns and compounding the negative effects of current environmental problems.
Science Daily; Colgate University: Global Warming Means More Snow for the Great Lakes Region
Global warming has had a surprising impact on the Great Lakes region of the United States. A comparative study of snowfall records in and outside of the Great Lakes region indicates a significant increase in snowfall in the Great Lakes region since the 1930s but no such increase in non-Great Lakes areas. This article discusses the reasons for this phenomena using Syracuse, New York as an example. Syracuse, one of the snowiest cities in the U.S. experienced four of its largest snowfalls on record in the 1990’s─the warmest in the 20th century, as a result of global warming.
Science Daily; University of Wisconsin─Madison: Shift in Great Lakes ?Seasons’ May Reflect Warming Trend
This article explains that how after scrutinizing a 139-year old record of Great Lakes water levels; a University of Wisconsin─Madison scientist has discovered a dramatic shift in the seasonal changes in water levels in the Great Lakes.
