Snowing again today, April 14th, 2014!...

Looks like a routine winter in Canada

 

Hey, lake affect works opposite in winter, it's warmer by the lake. Just this morning it was much warmer by my house than further inland. 16 degrees when I left home, 11 when I got to work. Bonus!

 

Lake effect also produces much more precipitation.

 

I would love to get into a long drawn out debate on this (not really) but it's not the correct forum for it. Usually I just shake my head when I hear any news about climate change. The exception is when I saw the story (not through mainstream media) about the ship filled with people studying climate change getting stuck in the ice. That made me chuckle. I know I know the heat made more ice, I got it.

 

OMG this made me chuckle - I spit coffee at my computer screen lol

 

The cause (anthropogenic vs. natural cycle) may be debatable, the fact that climate is shifting is not. It is happening and it happens quite frequently relative to Earth's existence. This is the "Bucket Forum", so this forum can be used for scientific discussion.

 

Hey folks,

I was just pointing out that of the 4 winters I've lived in WI., this one has been the longest, coldest over time than usual for the last 30+ yrs.

I was also pointing out the irony of how much snow is still on the ground in that photo yesterday.

Forget the catchy title-

 

do you live on the lake??!! sooo lucky!

 

You're right and the title does have merit, I was just providing some perspective as to what may be the cause of it.

Ironically, 2013 was the 4th warmest year in US history (8 of the 10 warmest years have occurred since 1998 ). It's also what has driven your colder and wetter season. The warmer temperatures have caused the polar jet stream to slow down in speed, as the temperature gradient between the equator and the polar region as decreased (The jet stream is a circumpolar flow parallel to latitudinal lines that concentrates cold air within it). Since the gradient has become less extreme, air is flowing "down gradient" less swiftly (i.e. wind speed is slower). As a result, the polar jet stream has had larger and longer undulations (dips), causing arctic air to push into areas more frequently and for longer periods of time. The weaker polar stream has made it difficult for the arctic to "hold onto" it's cooler air.

Climate change is a common occurrence. Remember the movie 10,000 BC? Ice covered states as far south as central Ohio at the last glacial maximum, just 10,000 years ago. 90,000 years before that, CO2 rich, higher sea level, warmer temperatures. It's believed that changes in our elliptical orbit, precession and axial tilt have driven these glacial/interglacial periods, along with solar output and volcanic activity for the last 1 million years. There was a time (4 billion years ago) when methane and CO2 dominated our atmospheric composition, with minor to no oxygen atoms present.

Hence, "Climate change".

Interesting, isn't it?

 

we have 300% our normal annual snowfall and its a record all time. I liked this winter personally, but I feel bad for place like Atlanta.