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Buffalo mega snowstorm tied to climate change?
United States
Storm snowfall total forecast in inches, Wednesday November 19. Image: National Weather Service
Yes, it sounds counter-intuitive. How can you have more snow, earlier in the season with a warming climate?
An oversimplified explanation goes like this.
- Warmer climate = warmer water in Lake Erie
- Arctic warming = a wavier jet stream pushing unseasonably cold arctic air mass into the eastern U.S.
- Unusually cold air masses and unusually warm lake water temps = extreme temperature contrast of 50 degrees between lake surface and air mass
- Extreme temperature contrast = more intense lake effect snowfall rates of 3 to 5 inches per hour with 60-plus inch snowfall totals
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