Global Warming
Whether you call it Global Warming or Climate Change, these historic storms fit right in. Remember, just because we’re cold here in the USA, it doesn’t mean the whole planet is cold. Other places on our world are enjoying some of the warmest winter temperatures on record.
The predictions of more severe weather patterns and more of them is exactly what we are seeing here. Yes, the planet is warming up on a global scale and yes, we are seeing record snowfalls right in the midst of it.
From the Weather Underground of Dr Jeff Masters(emphasis mine):
The second ferocious blizzard in a week to pound the Mid-Atlantic continues to intensify, but has now moved out to sea away from the coast. That’s a very good thing, because with a central pressure of 969 mb, the storm is as intense as a Category 1 hurricane. The blizzard brought wind gusts as high as 51 mph at Massachusetts’ Nantucket Island last night. The snow has pretty much ended over the Northeastern U.S., but the mighty blizzard dumped 1 – 2 feet of snow over much of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, with a peak snowfall of 27.5″ recorded at Ortanna, Pennsylvania. When combined with the 1 – 2 feet of snow still on the ground from last weekend’s blizzard, the snow depths in the Mid-Atlantic are reaching ridiculous proportions. This morning, Baltimore reported 35″ of snow on the ground, which would break their previous all-time record of 30″ on snow on the ground, set on February 13, 1899. The 19.8″ that fell on Baltimore from the blizzard was that city’s 10th greatest snowfall on record. Philadelphia’s 15.8″ was its ninth greatest snowfall. The winter of 2009 – 2010 now has three spots on the top ten all-time heaviest snowfall list for those cities. Record keeping began in the late 1800s, and I’m not aware of any major city in the U.S. that has that many record snowfalls in one winter. If there is, I want to hear about it! Washington D.C.’s 10.8″ snowfall from the storm missed making its top ten list of heaviest snows, so that city has only two storms from the winter of 2009 – 2010 on the list. The snow blitz that the Mid-Atlantic has endured with the three record-setting Nor’easters of the 2009 – 2010 is truly a rare event that has no parallel in the historic record.
You can check out some images of the current storm over at NASA.