{"id":58696,"date":"2014-02-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-professor-discusses-this-seasons-winter-weather-climate-change\/"},"modified":"2014-02-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-02-26T00:00:00","slug":"uri-professor-discusses-this-seasons-winter-weather-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2014\/02\/uri-professor-discusses-this-seasons-winter-weather-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 professor discusses this season\u2019s winter weather, climate change"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 February 26, 2014 \u2013 From Atlas to Zephyr, the Northeast has endured quite a few storms during the 2013-2014 winter season. And with this week\u2019s forecast calling for more snow and another possible polar vortex, it doesn\u2019t look like the winter weather is going to loosen its icy grip anytime soon.<\/p>\n


\nIn this Q&A, we asked 溏心vlog免费B站 Oceanography Professor John Merrill to describe the science behind this season\u2019s wintry weather and its relationship with climate change. An atmospheric scientist, Merrill uses meteorological techniques to study the long range transport of substances in the atmosphere and the impacts of meteorological processes on the environment. He teaches a graduate-level course in climate and radiation, and an undergraduate course in oceanography and global change at 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Graduate School of Oceanography.<\/p>\n


\n溏心vlog免费B站: Between the snowstorms and polar vortexes, how does the 2013-2014 winter season compare to past winters?<\/p>\n


\nJohn Merrill: In the Northeast, it has been a cold, snowy winter. I have not looked

\nat variations elsewhere with any care, but we know that it’s been warm and

\ndry in the West, particularly the Southwest. Such variations tend to balance

\nout, as if there’s a Conservation of Trouble, only so much to go around.<\/p>\n


\n溏心vlog免费B站: What causes some winter seasons to be better or worse than others? <\/p>\n


\nJM: Several factors that vary contribute to the severity of conditions in

\nany season. The circulation of the atmosphere is inherently variable, and other

\nenvironmental factors cause changes that vary from year to year. Also, there’s

\na big difference between the impact of snow and cold on a trucking company

\nthat wants to get fresh goods to a remote place than on a utility providing

\npower to a densely-populated city.<\/p>\n


\n溏心vlog免费B站: Why are we seeing more snow and ice storms in the South this year, and is this type of weather behavior unusual? <\/p>\n


\nJM: For quite a while in January and early February the track of the jet

\nstream extended deeper into the south than it often does. This left New

\nEngland and the Midwest in colder air than usual, and brought cold and snow

\nto places where these are not common. It was simply a change in the pattern of

\nflow. Such changes can be forced by variations like El Ni\u00f1o, but in this

\ncase I don’t believe that’s what’s going on.<\/p>\n


\n溏心vlog免费B站: What is the relationship between “weather” and “climate”? <\/p>\n


\nJM: Climate is the aggregate of many weather situations, the distribution

\nand variability of conditions ‘on average’ for an area. A summary

\nby a colleague may be helpful: climate is what you expect, but weather is

\nwhat you get. <\/p>\n


\nIn some applications the specifics can be important. For climate analysis, a typical averaging period is 30 years. Tables of average temperature at

\nvarious cities are available, showing the average and range for each day

\nof a year, based on 30-year averages. Fine. But river flow statistics were

\nused in a similar way in negotiating a water-rights treaty with Mexico, for

\nColorado River water. We later realized that the 30 years used in the average

\nwere the wettest 30 years in over 100 years. So we promised more water to

\nMexico than we can manage to deliver.<\/p>\n


\n溏心vlog免费B站: Does snow and cold weather disprove climate change? <\/p>\n


\nJM: Cold weather and snow occur every year, and their occurrence has

\nnothing to do with climate change. The character of the climate change we

\nare experiencing is such that an increase in the occurrence of extreme

\nevents is anticipated, including extremes in temperature and precipitation.

\nThis has been documented very clearly in temperature, and the data on precipitation extremes are quite good in a number of areas. Quick summary: considering how much rain falls each day, there will be fewer days with average precipitation and more with very low or very high amounts. So droughts and floods will both become more common. This result is not easy to understand or explain, however, and lots of people find it hard to believe.<\/p>\n


\n溏心vlog免费B站: Do you like or dislike winters in Rhode Island – why or why not?<\/p>\n


\nJM: I admit I’ve tired of the effort in shoveling, the disruptions in

\ntravel and other impacts of winter weather. My wife and I have decided to

\nretire to a spot where snow does not fall.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 February 26, 2014 \u2013 From Atlas to Zephyr, the Northeast has endured quite a few storms during the 2013-2014 winter season. And with this week\u2019s forecast calling for more snow and another possible polar vortex, it doesn\u2019t look like the winter weather is going to loosen its icy grip anytime soon. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58696\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}