Plows continue to clean-up across Central New York after a major winter storm dumped plenty of snow on the region, followed by some lake effect. But what's being dubbed Winter Storm Fern devastated the southern U.S.
There, the storm has killed nearly three dozen people and at its peak left more than a million people without power. Jessica Spaccio is a Climatologist at the Northeast Climate Center at Cornell University. She said an unusual combination of factors led to the abnormal weather pattern that began in New Mexico.
“We really had a lot of cold air dipping down south and that made this storm different than it could have been otherwise," Spaccio said. "Instead of just rain, we were seeing the ice and that snow and some of these more southern places. And then we also had a lot of moisture coming off of the Gulf and the Atlantic. So we add in that moisture that just gives more precipitation that can fall.”
Spaccio said that volatile mixture created some unique conditions in Georgia.
“The state had both a tornado watch because of the severe storms that were going on and then also an ice warning within this two different parts within the state . So there was a lot of interesting things going on with this event.”
She said the increasing frequency of extreme weather like this can be attributed to a changing atmosphere connected to climate change.
“Our atmosphere is warmer than it used to be. It has more moisture than it used to," Spaccio said. "So we are dealing with different possible conditions every day because we have this warming atmosphere. That said, there's still ongoing research into how it's affecting our winter precipitation.”
One theory is a weakening system toward the north pole that allows cold air to sink farther south. She said this storm will definitely be studied because of how it formed and grew to such severity and size.
