Minnesota, the land of ice and nice, is going through seasonal changes. As El Nino winters become more common, Minnesota will receive a warmer weather pattern for winters to come according to an article on the MPR website
According to The Weather Channel, we get El Nino winters because of all the moisture in the air due to the warmer global temperatures causing other factors that affect the weather patterns of the entire nation and globe.
As the climate has changed for more warmth, the snow and ice that was so long associated with our state is starting to fade.
“Global warming has caused the milder weather in Minnesota ,so our winters will, in theory, continue to get more mild,” said eig
- Winter storm rolls in from the north
th grade science teacher Pam Brinkhaus. Brinkhaus is just one of many who agree that our winters here in Minnesota, as well as elsewhere in the world, will be milder than previous years.
Brinkhaus also went on to say that our winters being mild may not be the only things that are affected, everything from our food and water supply to where we have to go to grow food and other agricultural activities.
Chemistry Teacher Elliot Tyler also said that even our insurance rates could be affected due to severe weather becoming more common and making damage that insurance companies have to cover under most plans become more common.
Those are all effects of having the warmer climate, but what does it mean for our winters in the long run? Many sources, such as The Weather Channel and The Farmers Almanac online edition said that our winters in the next 10 or more years will be on a warming trend.
Along with that warming trend comes the global climate being able to slowly creep up in average temperature around the globe. Tyler said that, “as the ice caps melt, the surface area of the ocean goes up, making more surface area for the water to evaporate into the atmosphere, water vapor in the air is a key element in having big disastrous storms.”
“Sandy is a good example of what may continue to happen if the climate continues to go up,” said an article on the National weather service website.
Winter enthusiast and student at the Blake School, Anders Ekholm, said that “as the jet streams shift, it also changes what weather we will get here in Minnesota. It can go either way, but they have been going north for the last couple years, making us get milder weather than in previous years, meaning less snow for skiing.”
Others in Orono who enjoy winter sports voiced a concern for what could happen for this winter, senior and captain of the alpine ski team, Connor Sample, said, “If the weather gets too much warmer, Colorado, where I do a bit of skiing is going to have no snow, like last year. It was such a bad year last year that many ski areas in Colorado and Utah didn’t even get up to full capacity at all during the season.”
Tyler did offer hope that our winters may become colder again by saying that, “The jet streams move fluctuate year to year, so there is no guarantee about what the weather will be like next year, climate change is a long drawn out process.”
