WINNIPEG –This year Winnipeg was hit with some severe winter weather whiplash. Some researchers at the University of Winnipeg suggest it’s a result of climate change.
Winter whiplash is a term used to describe wild and rapid changes in winter weather. This could include an early dumping of snow, late frosts in the spring, or hot weather in the dead of winter.
It’s a phenomenon that Dr. Nora Casson, the University of Winnipeg Canada Research Chair and co-director of UWinnipeg’s Prairie Climate Centre, has been researching.
She says these wild weather patterns have a huge impact all aspects of life.
“The part that I find interesting is understanding how impacts of these events can affect both ecosystems and people,” Casson told CTV News Winnipeg. “Understanding how those systems are connected really helped us manage for these events.”
Casson said one example of the weather’s effect on people was apparent during the early winter storm that hit Winnipeg in October, devastating nearly 10 per cent of the city’s tree population. Casson said damaged trees in turn fell on power lines, resulting in major power outages across the province.
Casson said it’s difficult to determine whether the frequency of these winter whiplash weather patterns is increasing, but understanding the weather can help cities prepare for them in the future.
And while most people wouldn’t associate an early winter storm with global warming, Casson said the winter whiplash can be a sign of climate change.
“There's some evidence from climatologists that atmospheric patterns are changing as a result of climate change,” Casson said. “For instance, we're getting different patterns of the jet stream which are pushing cold air down further south at unexpected times of the year, which are causing these types of events or different, more intense storm patterns that make their way across the continent which cause these types of big snow storms when you wouldn’t expect them.”
Casson is researching winter weather whiplash with Dr. Alix Contosta of the University of New Hampshire. Their research is available online.
-with files from CTV's Megan Benedictson
