Well no, obviously, because the ‘climate crisis’ is a bogeyman invented by the main stream media and Green advocacy groups in order to try and scare the public into accepting their impoverishment and immiseration in order to achieve Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions supposedly to ‘save the planet’. So a more sensible question would be: are extreme snowfalls in the US becoming more frequent and intense? The climate change fanatics claim they are, because global warming has resulted in more water vapour in the atmosphere:
A white Christmas may be the stuff dreams are made of, but when meteorologists start measuring the snow in feet, it can quickly become the kind of nightmare seen in recent days in Buffalo, New York.
After more than two dozen people died in Buffalo during the blizzard over Christmas weekend, Erie County's executive director Mark Poloncarz said the storm, the second of the season, was the "worst storm probably in our lifetime." Other parts of the nation also grappled with severe weather, with cold temperatures linked to 49 deaths, the Associated Press reported.
Scientists say extreme weather events, such as the Buffalo blizzard, could happen more often or be more intense as the Earth's climate changes.
Average air temperatures have been warming across the planet for decades, and as they do, the atmosphere holds more water vapor in some locations, increasing the potential for extreme rain and snow events, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
If this is true, and global warming is causing more intense snowstorms simply because there is more available moisture in the atmosphere, then we would expect to see that trend in the US extreme snowfall records; in particular we would expect to see more snowfall records set after 1980, when global warming really took off. So let’s look at record one day snowfalls recorded in all US states. The record for all states was 63 inches, set in 1913 at Georgetown, Colorado. Here are the rest:
So, 38 US states set one day snowfall records before 1980, with records going back as far as 1895; only 11 states have recorded record one day snowfall events after 1980 (Hawaii excluded!). Oops, that doesn’t quite fit the narrative. ‘No, no, you’ve got it all wrong,’ they say. ‘Snowfall is becoming rarer because of global warming but lake effect snow is becoming more extreme because the Great Lakes are warmer and evaporating more moisture, innit’.
Why climate change brings more extremes
Warmer temperatures mean it takes longer for the Great Lakes to freeze over in the fall and winter, said David Easterling, chief of the climate assessments section for NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information. That open water means more fuel for nature's snow machine known as lake-effect snow to wallop the region.
In other areas, warmer temperatures mean rain instead of snow. Much of the eastern half of the U.S. has seen an increase in extreme rainfall events.
Is climate change making lake effect snow worse?
Possibly. Great Lakes water temperatures remain warmer later in the fall, and cold air moving over the lakes can take advantage of that, Easterling said.
Weather records show temperatures in New York have risen 2.5 degrees since the beginning of the 20th century, according to NOAA's 2022 climate summary for the state. Temperatures have been hotter than in any other period.
"The (Great Lakes) don't freeze over until later in the fall than they used to," Easterling said. "They stay warm later in the season."
The author argues that Lake Effect Snow has become more extreme in the late 20th century and early 21st century:
Where does December 2022 snow event rank in the records?
As of Tuesday morning, the National Weather Service in Buffalo had reported more than 51 inches of snow at its office in Cheektowaga, New York. The 43 inches that fell through Sunday was the third snowiest three day-period on record, Steven Welch, a meteorologist in that office, told USA TODAY on Tuesday. Weather records for the location date back to 1870.
Eight of the top 10 three-day totals have occurred since 1995. Both of the top two three-day snowfall records were set in December 2001, 56.1 inches for the three days ending on Dec. 28 and 48.1 for the three days ending on Dec. 29, Welch said.
But note she’s talking about three day totals. Lake effect snow tends to occur over shorter time periods and if we look at the sub 24 hour record snowfalls in the US, here is what we find:
All of the sub 24 hour snowfall records were set in NY state and are exclusively due to lake effect snow. Only one of those records was set after 1980 (1997). The 24 hour snowfall record was set in Colorado, however:
While the Lake Ontario snowbelt doesn't officially hold the 24-hour U.S. snowfall record, it does hold the official 24-hour snowfall record for the state of New York: 50 inches set in Camden on Feb. 1, 1966. Even higher unofficial snowfalls have been recorded nearby, with the towns of Adams and Barnes Corners receiving 68 inches and 54 inches, respectively, on Jan. 9, 1976.
So even the official and unofficial 24 hour record lake effect snowfall records were set in 1966 and 1976 respectively. So much for lake effect snow becoming more extreme because of global warming then. Only if you cherry-pick the data it would seem. Furthermore, there is absolutely no evidence for more extreme snowfalls generally in the US because of global warming.
Fact check: ‘Global warming is causing more extreme snowfalls’.
Rated: ‘Misinformation’
I love your articles. Spent my youth in Chicago during 70s and 80s. We had snow for months that covered everything up to your waist and drifts up to the roof of the house. Now media tries to say somehow that there is killer snow in America that is deeper and colder than when I was a kid. It was just as hot in the summer and cold in the winter then as it is now. The difference is now there’s an agenda that uses weather reporting and flu, uh I mean cold, uh I mean Covid reporting to manipulate the shallow internet junkies. And it works. Except you see through the lies. Good job.
Have you noticed how the met office and tv weather reports are now putting weather warnings out for normal weather events, i.e. nearly every day now. Today it is "yellow alerts" for wind and rain.