Mia Weinberg

Climate Change

By Mia Weinberg

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Snowfall

Waking up on winter day to a shimmering, white landscape outside of our windows is the essence of winter here in the northeastern United States. Businesses and schools shut down as the snow places our society on hold until we can access roads and vehicles again. This was a memorable and exciting part of growing up in

New Jersey for many. However, as anthropogenic climate change continues to alter our planet’s weather systems, it is hard to ignore the changes in snowfall in New

Jersey and the broader Northeast region. These changes can be attributed to a number of factors, and are not as simple as an annual decline in snowfall. The effects of shifting snowfall patterns will affect not only our winters but the ecosystems of countless organisms, and surprisingly, the temperature of our planet. As global temperatures continue to rise by about 0.32°F each decade, the rate at which temperatures are rising is also increasing (Lindsey, 1). Across the United

States, winters are the fastest warming season. With this comes a reduction in days below 32°F, and a predictable decrease in precipitation falling as snow. In New

Jersey, this decrease in snowstorms, especially major ones, has been noticeable during the last several winters. However, in many parts of the Northeast the very opposite is being observed. Over the past several years, many cities in the Northeast have seen recordbreaking levels of snowfall even in the face of annual temperature increases. This can be attributed to climatic changes in Arctic regions. The Arctic is experiencing the most rapid rate of warming, at almost three times the average global rate (WWF, 1). This is affecting a force known as the polar vortex, which is a strong jet stream of cold air encircling the North Pole that keeps the cold from escaping to lower latitudes. As temperatures between the North Pole and North America are become closer together, the polar vortex the cold spells and unusually large snow storms observed in New England and southern New Jersey this year. The seemingly contradictory nature of rising global temperatures and freezing polar temperatures moving to North America are creating an unusual cocktail of snow patterns in our region. When the polar vortex is more stable, we can expect to see less snow, just as we have in many regions of New Jersey. This, in turn, accelerates climate change because snow itself has a cooling effect on the planet. This is due to a property called albedo, or the ability of a surface to reflect sunlight. Grassland has a relatively low albedo, typically reflecting about 10 to 25% of solar radiation, and absorbing the rest, which warms the surface of the planet (Dobos, 1). Snow, especially when it is The Trail│12

freshly fallen and deep, reflects 80 to 90% of incoming sunlight back into the atmosphere, which helps to balance Earth’s energy systems and cool the planet (NSIDC, 1).

Image by Caterina Sanders on Unsplash Another beneficial property of snow is that it insulates the ground below. This is because fresh and uncompacted snow is comprised of up to 95% trapped air, reducing heat transfer both inside of the snow and below it. This is why many animals burrow into snow to hibernate and stay warm during the brutal winter. Below a fresh layer of snow, the insulating properties can protect the ground from freezing over, which allows the soil to stay moist and allows for important chemical exchanges to continue to take place between the soil and the atmosphere (NSIDC, 2).

Snow is a powerful climatic force, but it cannot escape the ever-worsening effects of climate change. As we turn the corner of the coldest portion of winter and enter spring, observing the predictably unpredictable patterns of snowfall will be a telling sign of climate change’s effects on our weather moving forward.

References Arctic climate change. WWF Arctic. (n.d.). Retrieved February 16, 2022, from https:// arcticwwf.org/work/climate/

Dahlman, L. A., & Lindsey, R. (n.d.). Climate change: Global temperature. Climate Change: Global Temperature | NOAA Climate.gov. Retrieved February 16, 2022, from https:// www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-temperature

Dobos, E. (n.d.). Albedo. University of Miskolc. Retrieved February 16, 2022, from https:// www.uni-miskolc.hu/~ecodobos/14334.pdf

Feuerstein, J. (2022, February 2). Climate change may be fueling increase in major northeast snowstorms. The Washington Post. Retrieved February 16, 2022, from https:// www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/02/01/northeast-snow-storm-climate/

National Snow and Ice Data Center. Snow Characteristics | National Snow and Ice Data Center. (n.d.). Retrieved February 16, 2022, from https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/snow/science/ characteristics.html

Report: The case of the shifting snow. Climate Central. (2020, February 3). Retrieved February 16, 2022, from https://www.climatecentral.org/news/report-the-case-of-the-shifting-snow