Snowmagedon's Groundhog Day Blizzard?

1925 Words4 Pages

Most of us have seen or at least heard about the movie, Groundhog Day, but I bet seldom people remember or know about the trouble the northern part of our continent faced in 2011. And although Bill Murray was probably all nuzzled warm in his bed that week, many Americans had to face the ordeal that would be known as, The Groundhog’s Day blizzard, or Snowmagedon as many people called it. And it was one for the books, as it not only took out the northern region of the country and parts of Canada, but its reach made its way to some of the southern states as well. Residing in Texas, we don’t see much snow but even we had our fair share of the chaos that the weather brought along with it. However, despite this storm not being the worst blizzard …show more content…

In Chicago alone, within the first few hours there had been enough snow on the ground that caused many accidents and road closures. Early into the night the thunderstorms began, and heavy amounts of snow began to make it impossible for drivers to continue the roads. It was so bad in fact, that the popular Lake Shore Drive highway was abandoned and left with an image that looked like a movie scene. Hundreds of cars abandoned, littered the roads because they were trapped in the snow or ran out of gas waiting for conditions to get better. Firefighters worked tirelessly throughout the night to rescue stranded people who were trapped in their cars. “The snow was falling at the rate of 2 to 3 inches in an hour late Tuesday evening due to the thunderstorms.” The snow fall wasn’t the only issue the storm posed though. Gusting winds, coming in at 60 mph were recorded and knocked over power lines which caused blackouts throughout the city. In Oklahoma, the recorded snow fall was at 32 inches and posed a huge risk to livestock and the Governor, Mary Fallin, even called for a state of emergency due to the freezing rain and amount of snowfall. Places that usually do not see snow such as Houston could see some form of ice and surround states such as Louisiana and Alabama were experiencing some colder than usual weather. Regardless of the path it took, evidence of it was clear as all over the Midwest and northeast …show more content…

“The United States has been walloped by twice as many of the most extreme snowstorms in the past 50 years than in the previous 60 years, according to an upcoming study on extreme weather by leading federal and university climate scientists. This also fits with a dramatic upward trend in extreme winter precipitation — both rain and snow — in the Northeastern U.S. charted by the National Climatic Data Center.” (AP) The theory derives from the idea that a warmer atmosphere will hold and dump more moisture which will result in more snowfall. So, does this mean more snowfall throughout the winter months? Ironically, because of the warmer weather, this means that there will be less normal snow fall but once its cold enough for a snowstorm to manifest the warmer air will actually carry more moisture which could potentially produce blizzards and snowstorms. Another theory is that from Princeton researcher, Sarah Kapnick whose computer models have simulated the climate change in the past 60-100 years due to the rise in carbon dioxide expelled in the atmosphere. And as mentioned before, the blizzard began by combing storm surges from the pacific thus resulting in the theory that winds from El Nino that came from the Pacific Ocean helped push the moisture towards the central part of the country where it manifested into the system that created the conditions for the storm. “Very warm

More about Snowmagedon's Groundhog Day Blizzard?

Open Document