Juno Blizzard and its link to climate change

Juno is a historic snowstorm, "a once- in- a-century" in the United States, however, its impact fits many people's expectations about the current climate change situation.

The massive snowstorm with wind gusts hit the northeastern United States yesterday, affecting more than 60 million people and paralyzing New York City in an unprecedented scale since 2012.

According to meteorological experts, Typhoon Juno will cover the snow layer of 0.6-0.9m thick, stretching 400km along the east coast of the United States. Thousands of flights were canceled and a state of emergency was announced in New York. In addition to snowfall, experts also warned of other snow storm conditions, such as winds of up to 120 km / h.

Snowfall in Cambridge, Massachusetts.(Photo: independent.co.uk)

Northeast snowstorm

Winter Storm Juno (Winter Storm Juno) is the name for the northeast wind storm (nor'easter) that appears on the east coast of the US and Canada. Nor'easter is a macro-level storm, often appearing from September to April next year. Nor'easter storm formed when the low pressure system moved from west to east, then gave birth to a new storm off the east coast.

"Typhoon is offshore but storms move south-east to the south of New England. When off the coast, storms can affect humidity and generate a large amount of precipitation. The clock around the center of the storm, so it will hit the coast from the northeast, "said Keith Seitter, executive director of the American Meteorological Association.

Christmas is the common name for the phenomenon of water escaping from clouds in liquid form like rain, and solid as snow or hail; to distinguish the phenomenon of water separated from the air such as mist, frost, frost. During the storm in the US, it was downgraded in the form of snow.

The satellites of the US Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NASA) recorded images from the time of the storm's formation, showing its path along the shore. east sea.

Impact of climate change

The storm was dubbed "Snowmageddon" (heavy snowfall) or "snowstorm of 2015" . Scientists believe that these phenomena will appear more common and more frequent in the future, when climate change is making the weather more severe.

"We cannot exaggerate every storm and say it is caused by climate change. However, what we are witnessing today is typical of global climate change, like ours. predictable, " said Don Wuebbles, a climate scientist at Illinois State University.

Winter storms reached the east coast of the United States in satellite images on January 26.(Photo: NOAA)

Global warming is projected to increase the frequency of storms with a similar degree to Juno because warmer air will create moisture in the clouds, causing intense rain and snow.

Nor'easter appears every year and will be devastating on a large scale if strong enough. Kevin Trenberth, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), said violent storms like the Juno can now no longer be considered an exception.

According to Trenberth, the consequences of climate change for nor'easter storms are even worse. The increase in humidity in the storm will reverse and enhance its own strength.

Experts say it is not possible to conclude that climate change is the direct cause of Juno storm. However, climate change can make its impact worse.