Publication Date February 8, 2010 | Weather Underground

Heavy snowfall in a warming world

United States
Car buried in Virginia by "Snowmageddon" on February 8, 2010. Photo: Brabus Cave, wunderphotographer
Car buried in Virginia by "Snowmageddon" on February 8, 2010. Photo: Brabus Cave, wunderphotographer

Global warming skeptics regularly have a field day whenever a record snow storm pounds the U.S., claiming that such events are inconsistent with a globe that is warming...However, it is possible that if climate change is simultaneously causing an increase in ratio of snowstorms with very heavy snow to storms with ordinary amounts of snow, we could actually see an increase in very heavy snowstorms in some portions of the world. There is evidence that this is happening for winter storms in the Northeast U.S.--the mighty Nor'easters like the "Snowmageddon" storm of February 5-6 and "Snowpocalypse" of December 19, 2009.