Bomb Cyclone of 3rd Jan, 2018: Who Ordered That?
My phone rang. It
was a cold and dark afternoon of 3rd Jan, 2018. An agent of American
Solar was interested in helping me explore some of the solar roofing options
provided by the company. A green alternative to the non-renewable heating
sources of today, I thought, as I glanced outside the window. The city was bracing
up to welcome the much-feared blizzard – the 2018 bomb cyclone. The phone chat
did not last long, being meant for those who owned a private house. Shortly
after, the East Coast was hit with gusts of cold winds sweeping through cities
and freezing humanity to a standstill.
Bomb cyclones
are characterized by sudden steep drops in pressure (the ‘bomb’ effect), leading
to a drastic influx of cold air from neighboring regions (such as northern
Canada, in the present case). These cold gusts bring snow and result in severe
weather conditions. The pressure drop for the current storm is the highest in
the last 10 years, suggesting a severely intense cyclone. This and many extreme
weather events have become much more frequent in recent past, leading to
significant destruction of human life and resources. Think about the Hurricane
Katrina and the massive devastation it brought. According to a report, majority
of the ten most-severe snowstorms in the history of New York City have been
recorded over the last two decades. Then there is the 2010 heat-wave in Russia
that took around 50,000 human lives. And the last few embers of the Californian
wildfires have just stopped raging.
There is growing
evidence that global warming is partly behind these new weather trends. The
scientific interest has matured into a new field: extreme event attribution. While attribution studies can probe
links between climate change and past weather phenomenon, future projections
are difficult. The Russian heatwave and Katrina fall into the long list of
recent weather events that has been suggested to be the fallout of climate
change.
Whereas global
warming refers to the rise in average global temperatures, climate change is
its outcome. As climates scientists would conclude, global warming can and has
resulted directly in wind chills and blizzards especially in North America. Here
is a no-brainer illustration: global warming raises the average temperature of
oceans resulting in higher humidity. An increased water content in the air will,
then, expectedly lead to enhanced precipitation during a cyclone.
Let’s hope the
Paris Climate Deal does not meet the same fate as the Kyoto Protocol. US policy
makers need to be more vigilant. The success story of the Montreal Protocol of 1987
comes to mind, as a great example. Latest research suggests that the ozone hole
over Antarctica has been shrinking thanks to the CFC emission cuts achieved as per
the Protocol.
The good news is:
people are now becoming more aware of climate change’s ill-effects. It might
take more time, it seems, until policy-makers get well-informed on this issue,
as well. Right after the Hurricane Katrina, a lawsuit was filed against an oil
company by a group of citizens on account of greenhouse emissions. Although the
lawsuit did not see trial, the turn of events bears testimony to the increasing
climate-consciousness amongst people.
Solar roofing
might not be a bad idea after all!
Ahmad R. Kirmani
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