Winter in the northern hemisphere has caused many to worry this season, due to the intensity with which it has hit their destinations and the extremely low temperatures it has reached. There are many examples, and some believe that climate change has a lot to do with this.
The example with the most repercussion has been the unexpected cold wave that has hit the north and northeast of the United States, where temperatures dropped rapidly and even the southern states, where snow is less common, have suffered gusts and cold winds.
In Atlanta in particular, some medical centers have been overwhelmed by the number of patients arriving at the emergency room with complaints related to bad weather, some of which include respiratory complications in patients with asthma or emphysema. The powerful storm also affects South Carolina, New York, Alabama and other states.
“This has been the hardest winter I have ever seen in my life,” a doctor at an Atlanta hospital told the New York Times.
But not only in the United States have unexpected snowfalls been seen. In India, winter arrived 6 weeks late and in Malaga the first snowfall fell in more than 60 years. Other nearby regions have also received snow unexpectedly, with some locations experiencing the biggest blizzards in decades.
The regions of Yunquera, Torcal and Antequera received variable degrees of snow and traffic has even been interrupted due to the snow blocking the way. The last time Malaga received a snowfall was in 1954, when temperatures remained between 0°C and 5°C.
Regardless, nothing beats this season’s most unexpected snowfall: the Sahara desert. The surroundings of a small town in Algeria called Ain Sefra were unexpectedly covered in snow on December 19, 2017, where snow comes very rarely.
Although unusual, snow is not unthinkable in North Africa, which is partially crossed by the Atlas Mountains, which reach up to 2,500 meters in height and where it regularly snows in the higher regions. But rarely can this snow reach places like Ain Sefra, where it last snowed in 1979.
Now, what is all this about? Why is it snowing so heavily and in such unexpected places?
Winter came late to the United States, too, and while there are those who continue to deny that human-caused climate change is to blame — like Donald Trump — there are experts who have plenty of arguments about how climate change is causing what we see. The cold snap in the north and northeast was caused by a sharp and unexpected drop in atmospheric pressure, but beyond that, temperatures are too low compared to historical records. That something has changed is evident.
Although there is no definitive explanation, some scientists believe that cold waves, which are caused by the movement of cold air from the Arctic to the south, are directly related to climate change, but the relationship between this phenomenon and the current series of snowfall is not yet clear. The problem is that we must begin to act now, because if we wait for these relations to be clarified, the change will already be irreversible.
What do you think? Will climate change be the cause? Or is it just a colder-than-usual winter up north, and everything will be back to normal later? Tell us what you think.