Texas snowstorms are due to rapid heating of the Arctic, say scientists

[Steven Maurer]

In case you get any "but global warming couldn't be happening because Texas is cold" from any right wing moron, global climate change means destabilizing weather patterns. Freezing in Texas, melting in the arctic.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EuR_SQ3WgAA6HFm?format=jpg

https://bigthink.com/surprising-science/texas-snowstorm-arctic

[tinrobot]

1. Ice melts, floods the oceans with cold water.

Too much cold water creates snow in weird places.

But once all the ice melts, the snow goes away.

[Rstrstx]

2. This is a complicated part of global warming that has not been studied as much

Most of the focus has been on what artificial warming will do to the effects of increased heat, drought, and storms. Cold? Not so much, why would we spend a lot of time and money researching cold if the planet is getting warmer?

One problem you run into right away with the theory that a warmer planet will mean colder outbreaks in middle latitudes is that it doesn’t have a lot of on-the-ground data to support it. Unlike the increasing temperatures we’ve been seeing year in and year out globally, the intrusions of polar air down into the U.S. - particularly the southern part of North America - have decreased markedly since 1990, which led many people into thinking the trend of warmer winters was a logical consequence of a warming planet. And then something like this comes along.

Bottom line: this is an area of global modeling that needs more studying. This event is going to be so expensive that we may finally see some serious research funding behind the theory. Just as the right is holding this event up as “proof” that global warming is a hoax we should not be falling into a similar trap that this is “proof” of climate change without sound science to back it up. The right, God love ‘em, has been confusing weather with climate for decades because they cynically know most people aren’t good at distinguishing the two. We shouldn’t be doing the same thing just because it advances a narrative we want. We need to come armed with convincing evidence. I don’t think we have it yet. We currently have some interesting theories that need to be fleshed out better.

One question it DOES answer is whether or not the extreme cold events that have historically occurred in the southern parts of the U.S. could happen on today’s warmer planet, they’ve been largely MIA for years. That is a question we now have an answer to.