Remember the fun old one the climate cultists trotted out, Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past? You can’t read the link, because they disappeared it, but, Watts Up With That? has it here. And it include the wonderful line “Children just aren’t going to know what snow is.” LOL. There have been plenty of other prognostications, like just last year when they said the UK would no longer get snow. The children thing, though, was meant to tug on the emotion strings, because showing the science was problematic. Hence
Will Climate Change Make White Christmases a Thing of the Past?
For those who dream year after year for a white Christmas, that could one day be a thing of the past. According to a recent analysis of December weather over the past four decades, snow measurements across the U.S. on December 25 have dropped since the 1980s.
While scientists note that the decreases are still small, it hasn’t gone unnoticed by people across the country.
From 1981 to 1990, December temperatures remained below freezing, and about 47% of the country had snow for Christmas. The average depth of snow measured at 3.5 inches, as recorded by the University of Arizona on behalf of the Associated Press. But in 2011 to 2020, the average December temperature hovered around 35°F, and snow covered just 38% of the country on Christmas day at a depth of 2.7 inches. (snip)
There is some concern that we’ll experience even fewer white Christmases in the future, making this scenario a nostalgic memory rather than a reality.
“With climate warming, the prospects of a white Christmas in many parts of the U.S.A. will be slim indeed,” Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, tells AP.
Well, it’s shocking that a Holocene warm period would see less snow, just like the other warm periods. Shocking! It’s interesting, though, that they only include this short time period. Interestingly, if you look from the 20’s into the 30’s, there was a much more pronounced warming than the time included in the study. By several degrees, vs. just .79F. What caused that? There weren’t that many fossil fueled vehicles, and we were supposedly “safe” below 350ppm of CO2.
A separate study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) also shows declining probabilities of snow on Christmas for much of the U.S., with major decreases in the chance of snow in Washington and Iowa. In Dubuque, Iowa, chances of a white Christmas dropped from 63% in 1981 to 2010 to 42% today, a whopping 21% decrease. In Walla Walla, Washington, there is now less than a 10% chance for snow on December 25, down from 19% in 1981 to 2010.
There are, however, slight increases in snow probability on Christmas for New York, Philadelphia and Concord, New Hampshire.
So, things change? Huh.
Read: Uh Oh: White Christmas’ Could Become A Thing Of The Past Or Something »