If you live on the east coast of the United States, as I do, you have probably dealt with an inordinate amount of snowfall this past week. For us students, the weather came as a welcome break from the monotony of schoolwork, but for the greater part of the country, it became a safety hazard and hindrance to daily life, with over 100 dead and billions of dollars lost.

This may only be the beginning, however.

This massive storm comes at a time when man-made climate change is causing increasingly volatile weather patterns. Warmer air holds more moisture, fueling greater precipitation while cyclone winds bring moist air from the south and freezing polar air from the north. An arctic with record high temperatures stretches the jet stream down towards the continental US, carrying temperature extremes with it.¹ And with no simple fix, weather patterns in the future could become too erratic for historical data to accurately predict.² Already this winter, millions have been out of power while still more have been unable to move, their cars trapped by snow and ice. Though the weather out here in Northern Virginia has been letting up recently, it is imperative to be aware of the difficulties this snowstorm has brought so many elsewhere, and to help those in trouble out wherever possible.

Finally, there have been some misconceptions I have seen online from climate change deniers claiming this cold weather completely refutes its existence. Former White House Science Adviser John P. Holdren said in an interview in 2014, “I’ve always thought that the phrase ‘global warming’ was something of a misnomer because it suggests that the phenomenon is something that is uniform around the world, that it’s all about temperature, and that it’s gradual.³” While an increasing average global temperature is a definite effect of climate change, localized temperatures fluctuate just as they would otherwise, and even more so nowadays. All in all, I believe the storm this winter may serve as an indication for things to come, as we prepare to face a changing world for years to come.

1. Inside Climate News: A Winter Storm Fueled by Global Warming Tests U.S. Disaster Response ↩︎
2. Scientific American: Weekend winter storm that battered eastern U.S. was supercharged by climate change ↩︎
3. ScienceInsider: Let’s Call It ‘Climate Disruption,’ White House Science Adviser Suggests (Again) ↩︎