Adair letter: Climate change

The April 3 opinion piece by Bob Kearney on climate change was excellent. Global warming is the key subject of course, with melting sea ice telling us we may be in trouble. However, there is another side to this that is seldom discussed. If global warming is actually happening we need to recognize that it is having a great effect on the surface of the oceans. When the surface of the earth becomes warmer, the oceans evaporate more water into the atmosphere. The moisture travels with the winds wherever the winds blow. If a great amount of moisture accumulates during a hot summer a good share of it will likely not precipitate until the atmosphere cools in winter. The past winter may be an example of what happens following an anomalously hot summer. More than 20 feet of snow was reported in some parts of California’s Sierra Nevada range. Excessive snow and rainfall also occurred elsewhere. If this pattern persists for a few years we may begin to see enough snow accumulate in the mountains that it will not all melt in summer. New glaciers may begin to form simultaneous with the melting of ice at sea level.

This story was originally published April 19, 2017 at 3:18 PM with the headline "Adair letter: Climate change."