More Snow Does Not Equal a Cooler Climate

Lake-effect snow in action.

In fact, it basically means the opposite of that. The massive snowstorms that have hit the Great Lakes region have been well-publicized, and for good reason. Buffalo, New York under several feet of snow, in November? They get a lot of snow, but not that much, not this early anyway. It's also been very cold basically all over the country, and no, it's not because of the "polar vortex."

It's complicated, because weather always is; but a typhoon that was in the Pacific maintained cohesion much further north than it should be able to, because ocean waters are warmer than they should be. The jet stream is weaker than normal because the Arctic is warmer than it should be, and when the typhoon remnants smacked into it, the jet stream dipped south, bringing cold air with it. That's why it was so cold everywhere. Lake-effect snow occurs when cold air moves over an unfrozen lake, and the Great Lakes were very unfrozen. Water temperatures were about 50 degrees Fahrenheit above air temperatures, and that is a lot. This is a bad time for lake-effect snow anyway, but that temperature differential equates to prodigious snowfall totals for Buffalo. If the lakes were a bit cooler, like they should be in mid-November, the snow would not have been so bad. Still a lot, but not 7 feet.

My Twitter