Global Warming? But Then Why All the Snow?

While reading the two articles I was hoping for some mention about winter storms because I wanted to understand global warmings effect on nor’easters. Yes, flooding will become a large problem in the future and we must start preparing for it now, but winter storms to me are a more pressing matter at the moment due our increasingly harsh winters. New York was hit by four nor’easters alone in the month of March (CNBC 2018). Some people may say “It’s really cold outside, they are calling it a major freeze, weeks ahead of normal. Man, we could use a big fat dose of global warming!” (Trump 2015) to refute the fact that global warming is real, but sorry Mr. President climate change is not some more fake news. The colder temperatures along the eastern coast of the United States is due to warm temperatures in the artic making the jet stream to swing farther south and the jet stream lingers (National Geographic 2018). This helps contribute to the massive storms this past winter because nor’easters draw their energy from warm and cold regions clashing (grist.org 2018). The winter storms give us a taste of the flooding that is to come as the winter storms bring with them flooding of coast parts of New York (New York City Police Department 2018). There is proof of climate change causing extreme weather in our area, yet most people and politicians continue to ignore it. Climate change is not a matter that we can continue to overlook, and unless something is done to prevent or lessen it, coastal New York City may not have to wait till 2100 to see a six-foot sea-level rise (Murphy 2015).

Aiello, Chloe (2018) Fourth nor’easter in a Month Strikes the Eastern Seaboard
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/21/fourth-noreaster-in-a-month-strikes-the-eastern-seaboard.html (Last accessed 3 May 2018)
Trump, Donald (2015) Twitter.com (Last accessed 3 May 2018)
Gibbens, Sarah (2018) Why a Warming Artic May Be Causing Colder U.S.
Wintershttps://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/07/global-warming-arctic-colder-winters-climate-change-spd/ (Last accessed 4 May 2018)
Holthaus, Eric (2018) Nor’easters are Now Just as Dangerous as Hurricanes https://grist.org/
article/boston-noreaster-hurricane-like-winter-bomb-cyclone/
New York City Police Department (2018) Updates on the March 21 Winter Storm http://
www1.nyc.gov/site/nypd/news/pr0321/updates-the-march-21-winter-storm#/0
Murphy, Jarrett (2015) The Flood Next Time (Last accessed 4 May 2018)

4 comments

  1. jpark186 says:

    Your post really alerted me on the reality of climate change, and this is a topic that New Yorkers experience during every winter. So it’s very alarming to see that the President is looking down on this issue by calling it a “myth” and even claiming that this idea was “created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.” Apparently, the President firmly believes that “climate change is not a significant threat, and that he doubted humans contributed to it.” But the truth is that humans are the major cause of climate change! In fact, as NASA’s Dr. Gavin Schmidt explained, the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) claimed that the humans were responsible for about 110% of the observed warming. So how do we cause climate change? Scientists claims that main cause of climate change is human expansion of greenhouse activity such as deforestation. (plants and trees intake carbon dioxide and release oxygen, but large scale development led to cutting down of trees and forests which have led to increase of carbon dioxide that has resulted in greenhouse expansion.) Solution to deforestation would be recycling, going paperless, planting a tree and to raise awareness by participating in social events and distributing brochures.

    It just seems purely ridiculous that even though climate change is affecting our planet in so many ways such as increasing the effect of storms, devastation of forests, death of coral reefs and lack of water supply, the President is not willing to accept the reality. Reality that humans ARE the major cause of climate change and that we have to own up to it.

  2. Shira Shkedi says:

    Like Joe (and so many other New Yorkers), I’ve been shocked by the dreadful weather we’ve been having for the past few years. Looking back on it, it feels as though Hurricane Sandy was the first (and arguably the worst) of many storms we’ve had to endure that have really brought climate change to light and to the public’s attention. Although I live in Queens, I went to a school in the Lower East Side for eight years. It was situated directly on the river and, during Hurricane Sandy, it was closed for a week due to severe flooding. That being said, I had no idea just how much damage was caused by said storm until I read Jarrett Murphy’s “The Flood Next Time”.

    A recent article from late March 2018 published by CNN made it clear that this kind of cold weather and these storms aren’t a one-time thing. The articles claims that this year is the “fifth consecutive season that at least 30 inches of snow have fallen in New York City” (“It’s official: NYC hasn’t seen snow like this in 130 years”, CNN). The last recorded time it snowed this much for this long in New York was in the 1880s. This, combined with the evidence of rising sea levels in Murphy’s piece, is a sign that things (namely, the weather and general climate) are changing and not for the better.

    Unfortunately, it seems that those in positions of authority and power don’t recognize nor agree with the concept of global warming, and therefore don’t feel the need to change their ways in an attempt to repair the damage we’ve caused to the environment. As Joe mentioned in his post, our current president seems to have persuaded himself that global warming is not an impediment, but a good thing (I mean, who doesn’t love hot weather?). Alas, it seems that Trump is in good company in terms of lack of action when it comes to climate change. Ted Steinberg in “Can New York City Survive the Sea?” bemoans the lack of action taken on de Blasio’s part (when compared to Bloomberg) since being elected mayor. It seems that in these cases, the public might have better luck taking matters into their own hands rather than wait for change.

    Additional Sources:
    Enten, Harry. “It’s Official: NYC Hasn’t Seen Snow like This in 130 Years.” CNN, Cable News Network, 22 Mar. 2018, http://www.cnn.com/2018/03/21/politics/new-york-city-record-snow/index.html.

  3. sarahsass says:

    This post is a very important argument that must be addressed. Many critics of global warming are using this “cooling” argument as a way to sway the masses into believing that global warming is false. However, as mentioned by Joe and the responses as well, this is simply not the case. According to an article in the New York Times, Timo Vihma, head of the polar meteorology and climatology group at the Finnish Meteorological Institute, explained that warmer air in the Arctic weakens the polar vortex. Ordinarily the jet stream is straight, blowing from west to east. When it becomes weaker, Dr. Vihma said, it can become wavy. The weaker winds are more susceptible to disturbances, such as a zone of high pressure that can force colder air southward. These “blocking” high-pressure zones are often what creates a severe cold spell that lingers for several days or longer (Fountain 2018). Sounds familiar? That’s because it is exactly what we experienced in this lingering winter.

    Even so, scientists have all agreed that the climate as a whole is getting warmer. Climate refers to how the atmosphere acts over a long period of time, while weather describes what’s happening on a much shorter time scale. The climate is essentially then the sum of long periods of weather. Although parts of the United States were roughly 15 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit colder than average for this time of year, the world as a whole was about 0.9 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the average from 1979 to 2000 (Pierre-Louis 2017). Instead of avoiding accountability with outrageous counterarguments, we as a society should be taking action to clean up our act and learn to take responsibility for preserving our planet.

    Additional Sources:
    Fountain, Henry. “Why So Cold? Climate Change May Be Part of the Answer.” New York Times, 3 Jan. 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/03/climate/cold-climate-change.html

    Pierre-Louis, Kendra. “It’s Cold Outside. Cue the Trump Global Warming Tweet.” New York Times, 28 Dec. 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/climate/trump-tweet-global-warming.html

  4. danielacollado says:

    I understand the pressing problem of winter storms but as we go into summer months flooding is definitely going to be an issue, especially since hurricane season is coming. It’s funny that you included trump’s crazy rhetoric into this because global warming has now become a political issue. Since Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth in 2006, it seems that Democrats have taken over the global warming initiative. One thing that we should be worried about is the lack of government support. Both articles from the readings brought up FEMA remaking New York flood maps only after Hurricane Sandy devastated New York’s coast. FEMA is also notorious for not doing enough during federal emergencies, for example, hurricane Katrina in Louisiana or Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Despite the fact that it is literally called the Federal Emergency Management Agency they lack proper management (especially under this admin). Even the website is difficult to navigate. Check it out fema.gov . Global warming is a hot topic issue that should be taken seriously. From rising sea levels to devastating winter storms, either way, our government should take more responsibility and start taking action now.

    Resources.
    FEMA Flood Map Service Center fema.gov

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