Snow Laughing Matter

Winter has been a whirl this year, from snowfall in Florida to nearly  no snow in Grand Junction?

Snow in our little town has come almost every year right around Christmas time, but this year it’s been a little strange. Instead of us getting snow, places like Florida and Texas have gotten snowfall.

Florida is one of the countries that birds and people travel towards to get away from the cold and of course snow. Not having snowfall for the past 40 or so years you can imagine the shock when snow fell on January 3rd. Many people are shocked that places that rarely get snow have gotten it. Texas got snow as well this winter after 9 years. The question is rising more and more, what is causing this sudden change of climate?

One of the most common thoughts is the warming of the Arctic. It doesn’t take a stretch of the imagination to suppose that losing half the Arctic sea ice cover in only 30 years might be messing with the weather, but exactly how is not known yet. Many say the unusual cold relates to global warming. But if they looked at the bigger picture they would see that eastern cold spells are a relative coincidence in the Northern Hemisphere as a whole and that most areas are warmer than normal. Explained by theconversation.com. “The Arctic has been warming at at least double the pace of the rest of the globe, meaning that the difference in temperature between the Arctic and areas farther south has been shrinking. This matters because the north/south temperature difference is one of the main drivers of the jet stream. The jet stream creates the high- and low-pressure systems that dictate our blue skies and storminess while also steering them. Anything that affects the jet stream will also affect our weather.”

In the Mesa County, we have had very little snow comparing to previous years. It isn’t uncommon for snow to come late in the winter but as the time keeps counting down hope for more snow shrinks more and more. Meteorologists say the snow season is not absent at least, not yet. If Colorado is as dry in February as now, then it’s a concern, but it’s still early. This has affected many people of the valley such as businesses in Powderhorn and on the Mesa. Many people are worried for this summer without the rundown we usually have. Locals say this summer could be very dry, even dryer than previous years.

So with all this crazy weather what is to come with the change of the seasons?