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I'm from ohio, but been living in Utah since 2013. Let me tell you, snow back east was just something you talked about, or moaned about, etc... Out here, it's

I'm from ohio, but been living in Utah since 2013. Let me tell you, snow back east was just something you talked about, or moaned about, etc... Out here, it's a totally different thing. Economically it's extremely valuable, I mean the license plate reads: Utah: The Greatest Snow on Earth. Ski-resorts are a big industry out here. Tourism aside, the snow pack out here is crucially vital to farming(arguably a bad use, esp. considering 70% of Utahs' water goes to alfalfa (a high water sucking crop) farms of which the Governor owns one of the biggest), residential water systems, etc. I'd imagine w/ no snow the Colorado river could even mostly dry up. (Maybe I'm off on that, I'm not a geologist). Fire season starts earlier, lasts longer, covers more places, and I've seen 3 small fires start during storms in the past 2 years, never before that have I ever seen a forest fire up close. My point is Chicago, will survive easily without snow, the west... I'm not sure can exist at all without snow. Honestly, I'm not sure we'll last past 2035 unless there's a miracle. I'm certain there will be massive migrations by 2050 from the coasts inward, from the west to the east, from the hottest climates to cooler ones (esp if the temp exceeds survivable thresholds)... and then the resources in the middle of the country will start to struggle, maybe droughts there cause even more instability ...eventually there will be water wars. I'd bet my life savings on that. I can't say when, but eventually it'll happen. Again - unless we have some scientific miracle that completely reverses things... I'd like to see a huge space sun-shield device concocted ...our first mega structure in space... it would be kinda cool to see how they build something that big..

dredmorbius 5y ago
Snow, freezing temperatures, and the insulation snow provides against freezing temps, as well as knock-on effects on albedo, are all significant. Kudzu, scourge of the South, is limited in its northward spread by the frost line. Those images you've seen of it overtopping trees, houses, and utility poles are real (and surreal). And that's only one of the visible signs. Many invasive insect species, including both those that attack crops and those that spread disease, are limited in northerly spread by freezing temperatures. Rising temps means more northerly invasion. Ground freezes further limit insect, animal, and plant invaders. It's not clear to me whether or not the northern Plains states will see more or less freezing, my guess is that temperature swings will likely be wide and uneven, and with less snow cover, fluctuate to a greater extent through the winter months. This could kill desired plants (as roots that were previously protected from freezing do in fact freeze), promote invasive species, simply wear and weather structures and roadbeds to a greater extend (more freeze-thaw cycles). Less snow means more dark earth and higher solar absorption, which would tend to accelerate warming trends. Positive feedbacks tend to be dangerous. And climate instabilty may mean more "polar vortex" events, with weeks of 60F (18C) weather followed by -20F (-28C). Rains followed by freezes create ice, snows followed by rapid warming, increased melt and flooding. (All of course dependent on precipitation patterns.) How all this washes out is hard to predict. I strongly advise against simply hand-waving the issue away as "people will have one less thing to complain about". At the other end of the seasonal cycle, dryer summers and higher winds may also mean wildfires, something that's far rarer in the Plains states, but not unheard of. These did accompany the high-wind storm a week or so back, in which sustained winds of 80--100 mph were registered from Colorado to Minnesota, effectively not unlike a hurricane-on-land.
- ComputerGuru 5y ago
  I agree wholeheartedly. People complain about snow but these are areas that evolved (over eons and over human timescales) to adapt to the local weather patterns, cold and snow included. They don't just "handle it," they rely on it whether they realize it or not. It's not just kudzu. Ticks, termites, malaria-carrying mosquitoes, and so much more.

dredmorbius 5y ago

Snow, freezing temperatures, and the insulation snow provides against freezing temps, as well as knock-on effects on albedo, are all significant. Kudzu, scourge of the South, is limited in its northward spread by the frost line. Those images you've seen of it overtopping trees, houses, and utility poles are real (and surreal). And that's only one of the visible signs. Many invasive insect species, including both those that attack crops and those that spread disease, are limited in northerly spread by freezing temperatures. Rising temps means more northerly invasion. Ground freezes further limit insect, animal, and plant invaders. It's not clear to me whether or not the northern Plains states will see more or less freezing, my guess is that temperature swings will likely be wide and uneven, and with less snow cover, fluctuate to a greater extent through the winter months. This could kill desired plants (as roots that were previously protected from freezing do in fact freeze), promote invasive species, simply wear and weather structures and roadbeds to a greater extend (more freeze-thaw cycles). Less snow means more dark earth and higher solar absorption, which would tend to accelerate warming trends. Positive feedbacks tend to be dangerous. And climate instabilty may mean more "polar vortex" events, with weeks of 60F (18C) weather followed by -20F (-28C). Rains followed by freezes create ice, snows followed by rapid warming, increased melt and flooding. (All of course dependent on precipitation patterns.) How all this washes out is hard to predict. I strongly advise against simply hand-waving the issue away as "people will have one less thing to complain about". At the other end of the seasonal cycle, dryer summers and higher winds may also mean wildfires, something that's far rarer in the Plains states, but not unheard of. These did accompany the high-wind storm a week or so back, in which sustained winds of 80--100 mph were registered from Colorado to Minnesota, effectively not unlike a hurricane-on-land.

ComputerGuru 5y ago
I agree wholeheartedly. People complain about snow but these are areas that evolved (over eons and over human timescales) to adapt to the local weather patterns, cold and snow included. They don't just "handle it," they rely on it whether they realize it or not. It's not just kudzu. Ticks, termites, malaria-carrying mosquitoes, and so much more.