Global Warming Despite Brutal Winter

After record-breaking bitter cold temperatures and snowfall totals throughout the winter of 2015, many skeptics doubt the credibility of climate change predictions.  Is global warming just a myth? To figure out this question, first we need to understand the difference between climate and weather.  Climate is the pattern of weather measured over time – years, decades or even a century; weather is what is happening right now right outside your door – a thunderstorm, a snowstorm or just a quiet sunny day.

Scientists at NASA and NOAA and international research facilities track the global average temperature and all agree that the Earth is indeed warming, despite the 110.6 inches of snow and sub-zero temperatures that Boston endured this past winter. Official records have been kept since the 1880s, and data from the past ten years indicates that we are experiencing the hottest temperatures in nearly 140 years. These increasing temperatures are caused mostly by emissions created when we burn gas, coal and oil. The hotter air temperature causes more moisture to be held in the atmosphere which fuels heavier precipitation during rain and snowstorms. This is why we have seen more intense storms in the past several years including Hurricane Sandy and this year’s record obliterating snow totals in the Boston area as well as the severe storms currently pummeling the Midwest.

Most people might think of the bone-chilling temperatures and piles of snow that narrowed streets and tested man’s patience, as just weather, but one must think about it in the context of climate.  Although it seems counter-intuitive, the intensity of the past several winters could indeed by caused by the warming of our world.

Believe it or not, the surface temperatures of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of New England are registering as extremely warm. Many believe these warm temperatures are causing atmospheric consequences including fueling the strength of storm. According to Penn State climate researcher Michael Mann, “There is a direct relationship between the surface warmth of the ocean and the amount of moisture in the air.” Storms feed off the warm seas and generate large totals of snow inland. This is how global warming plays a role in the recent cold, snowy winters.

With the winter weather of 2015 now in the record books as one of the coldest and snowiest on record, is global warming a myth? To the climate experts, warm ocean waters and record snowfalls go hand in hand. However, for the rest of us, it is hard to understand that the Earth is getting warmer when you have spent most of the winter buried under snow.