Ah, Lake Storms. When beginning grad school in Edmonton, Alberta nearly 40 years ago I had a colleague and friend who had spent much of her youth near Lowville, NY, some 50 miles northeast of Fulton. We’re talking Tug Hill for folks who know the region.

Her landlady, seeking to impress the Yank in regard to the severity of Alberta winters commented “You know, last winter we had 51 inches of snow.” My friend, in all innocence, asked “Was that a one or a two-day storm?”

55 inches in a week and a half is not at all unusual for a region known (on occasion) to get four feet of snow overnight.

More proof of Global Warming?

Quick, everyone increase their carbon footprint! Maybe we should have another Copenhagen summit. The carbon output for that was in the gazillions.

Yeah, Bart (#1).  Remember the recent winter when Buffalo suffered something like 11 feet of snow on the ground?  It’s unbelievable, but such huge snowfalls happen surprisingly often in that frozen part of the world.

#2 & 3, very funny!

David Handy+

It is all the people and animals on this planet passing methane that is causing this global warming. Off with people and animals!!  What? It’s record snowfall. How’s that now? Re-write the data!

“...2009 is shaping up to be the fifth warmest year since coordinated record keeping began in 1850, according to preliminary figures released by the Geneva-based UN organization. The final report, including December climate data, will be released in March 2010.
The new data, collected from land-based weather stations across the world, as well as by ships, buoys, and satellites, does not show a slowdown or reversal of the global warming trend, Michel Jarraud, secretary general of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said at a press briefing.”
“Most of the world’s continents experienced above-average temperatures this year, with the exception of North America, which cooled down.”
Many other regions, including parts of South Asia, China, and Africa, experienced their highest temperatures on record. There were also a number of extreme weather events, Jarraud added, including unprecedented heat waves in India, parts of Europe, and Australia.
Australia experienced its third hottest year on record, and faced three heat waves of remarkable intensity. This included one in February, labeled Black Saturday, which encouraged 400 wildfires that swept across the state of Victoria, killing 173 people and destroying 3,500 buildings.
Other extreme weather events of 2009 included the deadliest typhoon ever known to have hit Taiwan, which left 461 people dead in August, and flooding in the West African country of Burkina Faso, which displaced 150,000.
Jarraud emphasized that temperature trends can vary over time.

“The warming is not uniform—there will still be cold winters, there will be cold summers. What we are talking about here is the trend over large areas and over long periods,” he said.
“What will happen is that the cold periods will be become less frequent and the heat waves will become more frequent and more intense.” http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/12/091208-copenhagen-climate-conference-global-warming-climategate_2.html

5., the situation is very complex with many factors in addition to co2 contributing to climate change. have you ever heard of factory farms? “...is the animal feeding operation (AFO) or concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO). By federal definition, an AFO is a facility that “congregates animals, feed, manure and urine, dead animals, and production operations on a small area of land.” The difference between an AFO and a CAFO is based in part on how many animals are involved. Both feature highly concentrated confinement areas with no pasture or grazing land.”
“AFOs and CAFOs produce huge amounts of manure and droppings. According to information available on its Web site in 2005, the Sierra Club says that factory farms produce 2.7 trillion pounds of waste each year. Traditionally, small farms have recycled manure by spreading it on their crops for fertilizer. But this is not practical for large industrial operations. Most of them collect and store the waste in open lagoons or concrete cisterns. Runoff into streams, rivers, and lakes can kill fish and contaminate human drinking water supplies. Factory farms, particularly those raising hogs, are also considered a hazard to air quality and are notorious for their odor problems.” http://www.libraryindex.com/pages/2170/Farm-Animals-FACTORY-FARMING.html
even though i cannot stand the sierra club, i am sure if you were so inclined to investigate it, you would find the facts accurate and corroborated by other orgs.
i lean conservative and i try to stay informed; the issues are confusing and the solutions daunting. i don’t believe the libs should have the soapbox on the environment, after all do we not revere tradition? it must mean something that pope b. and patriarch bartholomew I are both tree huggers….

I wish they could truck all that snow here and dump it in our reservoirs.  We’ve had a little rain so far this winter, but overall California is as a dry as a bone.

Saying climate change isn’t happening because it is snowing a lot in New York, is like saying SSUs must blessed by God because I know a nice gay couple down the street, or that TEC is growing and vibrant because North Dakota and Navajoland are growing (the PB’s line).  A local anecdote does not alter the underlying truth, whatever that truth may be.

#2, it could be, as Lake Ontario would evaporate more moisture in the winter to drop as snow on its eastern end if it retained more heat.

Whatever the cause, it makes me glad that I bought that used 8hp snowblower last year and that it’s still functioning after 30+ years. My 40+ year old body doesn’t like shoveling so much anymore.