Cleveland's weather (Akron: live, statistics, moving)

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by mbowes80

At current emissions levels, in 2080 they predict that the climate in Cleveland will be most like ...

*drumroll*

Kennett, Missouri

And if Cleveland's population continues to decline, by 2080 it'll be about the same size as Kennett, Missouri.

[mbowes80]

Originally Posted by andrew61

And if Cleveland's population continues to decline, by 2080 it'll be about the same size as Kennett, Missouri.

*sad face*

[MaskedRacer]

Best way to dress is a heavy coat with a hood, but wear some ear covers (like the ones you wear when you go to an auto race) over the hood.

[WRnative]

The rapid warming of the Arctic region (Arctic Amplification) is being reflected in Cleveland's winter weather, as winters in northeast Ohio now become noticeably more mild. On the local weather segment tonight, it was reported that we've only had 8 inches (at Cleveland Hopkins) of snow so far this winter. What was not mentioned is that most of this snow rapidly melted. I live in the snow belt northeast of Cleveland, and I've yet to even consider using my snow blower. I shoveled only once this winter, perhaps ridiculously unnecessarily (nobody else on my street did so), to avoid 1-2 inches of snow perhaps leading to black ice over the next 48 hours. That's it. The snow storm predicted for the last few hours left no snow accumulation on the driveway or roads.

https://www.cleveland.com/datacentra...her-recap.html

An article from last January:

https://www.cleveland.com/datacentra...east-ohio.html

Looking at Accuweather's January and February weather projections, what is noticeable is a paucity of days with highs below freezing, and NO days with lows below 10 F. Well over half the days in January are forecast to have highs in the 40s!

https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/cl...weather/350127

https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/cl...0127?year=2020

Taking a lesson from last year, I only filled my snow blower half full this year. Stupid, as it's a pain to drain the tank in the spring. From now on, I'll only fill the tank when the machine actually is needed. Within the last decade, I often filled the tank at least a few times during winter.

Unfortunately, a web search provides little explanation of what is happening to our winters. Likely, climate research budgets have been slashed.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/28/c...-science.html?

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/1...didate-profile

Northeast Ohio is experiencing a significant change in our winter weather. We don't know exactly why (what is the impact on northeast Ohio of "Arctic Amplification," the rapid warming of the Arctic region?), nor how these changes project to the future. E.g., our maple sugar industry likely is on its deathbed. Enjoy it now by taking kids to a sugar bush in the coming months, and by taking pictures and videos so they can tell their kids what once existed in northeast Ohio. There are good sugar bushes at local metroparks, such as at Lake Metroparks Farmpark. Maple sugaring weekends often are in early March, but the sugar bushes often now stop operation before then; call ahead and ask if the sugar bush will be operating and have tours on weekends in February. Even if tours aren't scheduled until March, visiting when the sugar bush isn't crowded and while the evaporator still is working is a great idea. Perhaps then come back during the maple sugaring events. BTW, an example of how much our weather has changed is that the Geauga Maple Festival still is held in late April, once at the end of the maple sugaring season.

http://www.lakemetroparks.com/events...aring-weekends

I especially like the Lake Metroparks Farmpark for its sugar bush because the park has added attractions of a large quilt show and newborn farm animals in addition to regular, very good exhibits.

http://www.lakemetroparks.com/events...ts/quilts-2020

<<tapping season will start earlier as the climate continues a warming pattern.
Typically, sap flows from late winter to early spring. Last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported an early flow — from about the first of January to mid-February in states like New York, Ohio and Vermont.>>

https://greatlakesecho.org/2018/04/0...ees-and-syrup/

<<The polar bear is a powerful symbol of the effects of climate change in the Arctic. Here in New England, our symbol may soon be the sugar maple tree. Tapped for syrup for centuries and famous for its fall foliage, the sugar maple is stressed to the point of decline and many scientists studying this beloved tree believe rising temperatures are the cause....

“Just fifty years ago a sugar maple’s sap was four percent sugar, now it’s two,” says Barry Rock, a leading forest scientist and Professor of Natural Resources at the University of New Hampshire who has studied sugar maples for over 25 years. Rock says there is a “direct correlation” between sweetness reduction and temperature rise since 1970. “Because of the lower sugar content, more sap is needed to bring the maple syrup to its required 66.9 percent sugar content in the finished product. So while it used to take 25 gallons of sap to make a gallon of pure maple syrup, it now takes 50,” he says. >>

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/c...-to-the-brink/

<<Maple syrup production is especially sensitive to changes in climate, because the trees need below-freezing temperatures during the winter and a range of temperatures during late winter or early spring to produce sap....

[Maple] seeds are sensitive to temperature: They need about 120 days of below-freezing temperatures in the winter, and 35 to 90 days of slightly above freezing temperatures to germinate. The optimum temperature for seeds to germinate is 34 degrees, but at 50 degrees germination essentially stops, said the USDA.

The sap is also temperature-dependent. Maples need below-zero nights during winter so sugar can concentrate in the sap. The sap, which is boiled to produce the syrup, runs best when temperatures are in the 40s during the day and 20s at night. Warmer temperatures can slow or even halt the flow of sap, and can spoil the sap before producers have time to boil it down to syrup.

https://www.newyorkupstate.com/weath...pstate-ny.html

As Cleveland winters increasingly are less influenced by the Arctic climate, I decided to examine the impact of Cleveland's latitude on our potential weather. The major European city that I found most closely at Cleveland's latitude (41.4993 degrees North) is Barcelona, Spain (41.3851 degrees N). Both are further south than Rome, Italy (41.9028 degrees N). That's a basic fact about Cleveland that I doubt few Clevelanders know about, including me until I looked it up. Something to ponder in the years ahead, as our climate begins to converge with other global cities at the same latitude.

Arctic Amplification:

https://arctic.noaa.gov/Report-Card/...cutive-Summary

https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...0119095707.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZLX59FXr5w

We used to regularly hear about the "Alberta Clipper" on Cleveland local weather forecasts during the winter. Not so much in the last couple years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberta_clipper

[216facts]

Don't worry, just got to wait it out: https://youtu.be/gUdtcx-6OBE?t=734

It will be interesting to see how much we humans can tolerate the global changes coming in the next 100 years. I'm betting on the nuclear powered, hydrocarbon sequestration factory. Or perhaps we're just another blip on a 1 billion old lifecycle. Mass extinction events have happened before, they'll happen again. Just ask the Wooly Rhino.

[ohioaninsc]

As someone that hates driving in snow, I for one have been quite happy to not have to deal with it this season so far...Christmas Day was sunny and mid 50s...and it felt so good that I went hiking after family activities.

[WRnative]

See post 109 in this thread.

https://www.city-data.com/forum/city...l#post57130042

[WRnative]

It will be informative to see Cleveland winters in the years immediately ahead.

Just two years ago, we had a more normal winter. Are these "normal" winters already history, or will we see the return of more normal winters in the years ahead? The chart in this article suggests that mild winters are just a normal variation.

https://www.news5cleveland.com/weath...r-we-have-none

As of Jan. 16, Lake Erie remained ice free. Lake Erie's water temperature off Cleveland is at 38 degrees today.

https://forecast.weather.gov/product...H&issuedby=CLE

https://www.weather.gov/images/cle/I...9_combined.jpg

The worry, especially given unprecedented wildfires over the past year in boreal forests and in Australia, is that the world has passed a significant climate change tipping point that is being reflected in Cleveland and elsewhere.

[216facts]

Originally Posted by WRnative

It will be informative to see Cleveland winters in the years immediately ahead.

Just two years ago, we had a more normal winter. Are these "normal" winters already history, or will we see the return of more normal winters in the years ahead? The chart in this article suggests that mild winters are just a normal variation.

https://www.news5cleveland.com/weath...r-we-have-none

As of Jan. 16, Lake Erie remained ice free. Lake Erie's water temperature off Cleveland is at 38 degrees today.

https://forecast.weather.gov/product...H&issuedby=CLE

https://www.weather.gov/images/cle/I...9_combined.jpg

The worry, especially given unprecedented wildfires over the past year in boreal forests and in Australia, is that the world has passed a significant climate change tipping point that is being reflected in Cleveland and elsewhere.

We may have passed a tipping point where greenhouse gases like CO2 and CH4 are in runaway mode, but no system runs away forever, something rises to oppose. I wouldn't worry too much, but I wouldn't worry too little either. We'll definitely see the ocean levels rise, we're already in the midst of a significant species extinction that will continue, the exponential human population trajectory will not continue, we'll likely witness increased mass starvation and war events. So there will be a reset to this, but probably not in our lifetime, although we will definitely see the storm coming. I wish I could live long enough to see the reset, the opposing force that corrects this.

On the upside, we have crossed historical thresholds in mastery of technology and power production. So an optimist might hope for a technological solution that would avert some of this crisis. But practically speaking, the crisis is not really all that life threatening for those of us in the west. If you're in Bangladesh maybe you should worry a little more. But you should already be worried, you're in Bangladesh. I don't think we're the frog in the slowly warming water, but the people in Bangladesh - they may want to think about that.

[WRnative]

On 1/20, I used my snow blower for the first time. Lake County had five inches of wet snow Saturday through Sunday a.m., all lake effect snow.

Accuweather now is predicting some colder weather in mid-Feb. with low temperatures in the teens and some snow. From today through the first week of February, Accuweather forecasts above average highs in the 30s and 40s, followed by a couple weeks of below normal temperatures.