In the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, the province has been at a standstill for the last 4 days. After being repeatedly battered by severe winter storms that have brought over 50 centimeters of snow, temperatures below -30 degrees and winds of over 110km/hr the provincial electricity company has been placed under enormous pressure. They have had to implement rotating power cuts. To make it worse, the local power plant experienced a fire due to the unknown causes. This left over 150,000 people without power in blizzard conditions. In a region in which even the stove and heating runs off electricity, this has been devastating. Even the schools and universities that were supposed to open tomorrow after Christmas Break have been postponed until Wednesday by the government. Is this severe winter weather a sign...if so of what? Come I will tell you

Last article we discussed about tropical cyclones and massive storms which are being caused by global warming. In this article I wish to present to you a phenomena which is unique to the North but can be just as devastating as the worst cyclones. This is snowstorms. Yes?while a thin white envelop of snow may seem very appealing to everyone (including myself), snow, ice, wind and freezing rain can have a devastating impact when it comes together in form of a snowstorm or blizzard. To understand what has been going on recently in my region I must tell you about the seasonality and timing of snowfall.

Usually significant snowfall occurs in Atlantic Canada in January due to the moderating effect of the ocean on our climate. We are often times wondering in Atlantic Canada if it will be a ?White Christmas? or not. Starting in January is when we start to see snowfall amounts in 10 plus centimeter range.

But this year we are seeing something quite odd. We saw our first large snowfall in late November and by Christmastime we had seen over 50 centimeter of snowfall. The large drifts in some areas measured over 5 feet. Atlantic Canada has been buried by an extreme amount of snow in a remarkably short time. This is the most snow we have seen this early in the last 20 years and countless records have been broken this winter regarding snowfall amounts and cold temperatures.

On one hand this may seem like great news. That the north is recovering from the global warming it experienced. But that?s not the case. These snowstorms and blizzards are a by-product of our record breaking warm summer we experienced. In a region where 25 degrees is considered very warm, we experienced several days of above 30 degree temperatures. That is what is causing our terrible winter right now.

But how can those two things be related? Well, let me start by explaining how snow storm systems form. These storms form when a cold artic air mass meets a warm tropical air mass. They mix around the Canada-US border where the Jetstream overhead causes the air masses to mix and swirl under the Bernoulli?s principle. The mixing of the warm moist air in the cold arctic air will cause precipitation, usually in form of snow in the north. Now, how global warming contributes to the increased snowfall in recent years. The warm temperatures in the summer warm our oceans. Oceans have a high heat capacity meaning they retain their heat for a long period of time. So, the oceans will remain warmer for a longer period of time. The warm oceans will cause the air above to form warm moist tropical maritime air masses. When these move north and encounter the cold air they will cause intense snowfall. So, due to the increased warming of our oceans and increased warm air masses moving north, our snowfall has increased.

The effects of these blizzards are devastating when they are as intense as they have been this winter. Meters of snow has been dumped on us, ice is everywhere, and the blizzard?s strong winds have caused power outages in these conditions. Just today we did not have power for over 6 hours. Not having power in minus thirty degrees temperatures during a blizzard can have huge impact. The heating (which is electric) shuts off and there is no source of food because stove and oven are also electric.

This is just another effect of global warming?In the north just like it has affected everywhere. It?s already happening guys! We can?t wait any longer thinking that global warming is not causing any damage. Our climate is changing, our weather is changing. We have to step up now and be the change...

Picture Courtesy:

pic 1:dosomething.org

pic2:wikipedia.org

pic3:news.nationalpost.com