Hello Friends,

Yesterday was a very important day for environmentalists in the Northern to observe. It was what we call the winter solstice. It is the ?official? start of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and also the point in the year when the northern hemisphere is tilted away from the sun. We receive the least amount solar radiation from the sun and it is also the shortest day in terms of daylight hours on this day. It occurs every year but the recent observations in the weather at the time of winter solstice follows an interesting trend. Where I live we are influenced heavily by the Atlantic Ocean and the moderating effect of the ocean means that winter in January in terms of heavy snowfall. However, in recent years we have observed that the heavy snowfall comes earlier every year. This year we have received over 50cm of snow before the winter solstice on December 21^st. This may seem good news on the surface in terms of climate that the earth may be getting cooler and we are getting more snow. But that is not the case. The extra early precipitation comes as a result of the warmer summers we have. The warm summers melt and evaporate more water. This excess water translates into storm systems forming earlier and bringing early precipitation. However after the system passes, the temperatures remain seasonal which means that this snow is quickly melted. It just means heavier more devastating storms which cause devastation that drop a lot of snow but the snow is very quickly melted. This just results in a very short ice cover at northern latitudes that is very quickly melted and lasts for shorter periods of time every year. This is where our climate is headed. This is our future. We must stop it. We may see killer storms at the tropics but in the north we get increasingly intensified storms that bring more snow. Lastly, the melting snow will bring massive floods in springtime. Our climate is changing drastically and we are defying natural patterns of climate?We must act now to stop this!

Regards,

Nitish Bhatt