Buffalo Buried Under 6 Feet of Snow
Buffalo has been buried under more than 6 feet of snow; Is it a sign of Climate Change?
It has been reported that more than 6 feet of snow has fallen in the city of Buffalo, New York over the past few days. Authorities there have closed roads to allow for access to emergency vehicles only and have issued travel bans for most of the Western New York region. It has also been reported that at least 2 people have died so far as a result of the significant Snowfall.
The Buffalo area is no stranger to significant snowfall each winter. In fact, they get more snow each year than us here in the Eastern Ontario region of Canada. The reason is because as weather patterns blow cold air over the Great Lakes, warm air rising off the water condenses moisture into Snow and that Snow is then deposited mostly in Western New York region. This is known as Lake-effect snowfall and is a usual occurrence every year. What is not usual is that this is the 2nd significant snow storm to drop more than 5 feet of snow in the region in the past few years.
Here in Eastern Ontario, our first snowfall of the year took place this past week and while it has continued to snow on-and-off the past few days, only about 5 inches of Snow has fallen here so far. This is a picture I took while in Montreal this week. First snowfall events seem to be happening later and later in the year each year. This is a sign that the climate of the region is changing. Average daily temperatures and incidents of severe weather are increasing and every time a significant Snowfall like the Buffalo storm happens the conversation always shifts to concerns about Climate Change.
If the Buffalo snowstorm is a sign of climate change than it stands to only get worse. Each year as the temperature of the water in the Great Lakes rises due to climate change, a higher rate of evaporation will occur in Winter. That water evaporation will only lead to more significant snowfall. This is not conspiracy; its fact based on observation. However, at this point in the game, and if people begin to take Climate Change seriously, it may take decades to reverse the warming trend of the Planet.
