Soccer Dad

The inconvenient blizzards

Well after the anticipation we had the snowfall over the weekend that we were promised.

With another two feet of snow (at least) this past weekend, Baltimore's single season snowfall record - 62.5 inches in 2006 - was about to fall. Also this marked this first time since 1891 (when records have been official) that Baltimore has had two snowfalls in excess of 20" in a single season. (In 1899 there were two storms that made it to Baltimore's top 20 snowfalls - as of 2006 - but the lesser one was only 11.7 inches.)

To look at the record (via WMAR in 2006) since 1979, Balitmore has experienced one major snowstorm every 3 or 4 years. This year, then, we were due for a storm. But we didn't have just one. We've had two. So far.

It is interesting looking at the record. Sure there's been a pattern since 1979, but before 1979 the last major storm was in 1966. And the pattern in the previous 8 years was a major storm every other year going back to 1958.

I don't know if these patterns tell us anything. Maybe they tell us something about short term trends. Still, if there was global warming would we be seeing record breaking snowfalls in Baltiimore twice in the past decade and a half? (The 1996 snowfall for the whole winter was 62.5 inches, blowing away the previous record of 52 inches. The 2003 snowfall was 58 inches; no longer a record, but still more than every year but one.)

Maybe this is one data point, but Watt's Up with That observed that in one week in December, there were 877 snowfall records in the United States.

The bottom line is that with the snowfalls in December and the first week of February, Baltimore experienced historic weather. Even if all the local governments had been perfect in their responses, they couldn't possibly have handled everything. There was no way to anticipate the winter of 2009-2010.

Finally, Monday, I had dug my cars out. There's a beautiful blue sky. But we weren't out of the woods. Another 24 hours later another snow would start. Not just any snow, but a predicted blizzard. This winter season in Baltimore would have three major storms. That's never happened before.

One of the casualties of the recent weather has been the federal government in the Washington D.C. area - which is now closed for a third consecutive day. This forced the NOAA to change the medium for announcing a new service to provide citizens with information for dealing with climate change. Instead of a big press conference, the announcement was made over the phone.

Washington Wire observes (h/t Instapundit):

It's not the first time inclement weather has put a chill on official efforts to tackle climate change. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had to leave the Copenhagen summit early in December to get back to D.C. before the blizzard known as Snowpocalypse grounded all flights.

This irony is similar to the Gore effect.

At least we will have a new federal service to help us deal with the problem of early snow melt. If only.