Climate change: Greenland gets first-ever rain, Colorado gets August snow

On August 20, the National Weather Service in Boulder, Colorado reported heavy snowfall at Bertu Pass. Writes about it KDVR.

Photo: Shutterstock

Snow in Colorado

The snowfall summary was posted around 02:00 AM on Friday 20 August. Wind gusts brought temperatures up to 16 degrees (-8 Celsius).

Snow dust was spotted by traffic cameras at Rabbit Ears Pass and Cameron Pass in northwestern Colorado. 9news.

Trail Ridge Road and Old Fall River Road in Rocky Mountain National Park have been closed due to snow and ice on the roads. Snowplows were used to clear the road.

Meteorologist Chris Bianchi said it was not unusual for snow dust to be seen on Colorado's highest peaks even in mid-August.

In 2020, the first snow fell in early September.

A list of the first snowfalls in the last 10 years from the National Weather Service:

• 8 September 2020
• October 10 2019
• October 6 2018
• October 9 2017
• November 17, 2016
• November 5, 2015
• November 11, 2014
• October 18 2013
• October 5 2012
• October 25 2011

Although Denver may experience September snowfall, it usually does not fall until mid-October.

• Earliest date of first snowfall: September 3, 1961
• Latest date of first snowfall: November 21, 1934
• Average date of first snow: October 18

Rain in Greenland

For the first time in history, precipitation in Greenland fell in the form of rain, not snow, writes CNN

The temperature in Greenland over the weekend rose above zero for the third time in less than ten years. The warm air triggered heavy rain, which poured 7 billion tons of water onto the ice sheet, enough to fill the Reflective Basin on the National Mall in Washington DC nearly 250 times.

On the subject: Greenland sets record-breaking heat record: glaciers are melting at double speed

These were the heaviest rains on the ice sheet since 1950, and the amount of ice that formed on Sunday, August 15 was seven times the daily average for that time of year, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

Ted Scambos, a senior fellow at the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado, said this was evidence of rapid warming in Greenland.

“What's happening is not just a warm decade or two in a variable climate,” Scambos said. “This is unprecedented.”

The National Science Foundation's Summit Station is located at the highest point of the Greenland Ice Sheet, where scientists can observe Arctic weather and ice changes. The station has been staffed to monitor extreme changes year-round since 1989. Most of the rain on the weekend fell from the southeast coast of Greenland to Summit Station.

Jennifer Mercer, a program officer for the National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs, said the heavy rain will require changes to how Summit Station operates: "That means we have to account for weather events that haven't happened before," she said.

“Increased weather events, including melting, high winds and now rain, have gone beyond what is considered normal over the past 10 years,” Mercer said. “And this seems to be happening more and more often.”

As man-made climate change heats the planet, ice loss is rapidly increasing. A detailed UN climate report released this month concluded that burning fossil fuels has led to a record thawing of Greenland over the past two decades. A recent study published in the journal Cryosphere found that Earth has lost a staggering 1990 trillion tons of ice since the mid-28s, much of which came from the Arctic, including the Greenland ice sheet.

In July, the Greenland ice sheet experienced one of the most significant melting events in the past decade, losing more than 8,5 billion tons of surface mass in one day, enough to submerge Florida two inches (5 cm) in water. This was the third extreme melt in the past decade, during which melting has spread further inland than the entire satellite era that began in the 1970s.

You may be interested in: top New York news, stories of our immigrants and helpful tips about life in the Big Apple - read it all on ForumDaily New York.

In 2019, Greenland dumped an estimated 532 billion tons of ice into the sea. During that year, an unexpectedly hot spring and July heatwave caused almost the entire surface of the ice sheet to melt. As a result, global sea level has consistently risen by 1,5 millimeters.

“We're crossing thresholds not seen in millennia, and frankly, that's not going to change until we adjust what we're doing,” Scambos said.

Other unusual events have also become more frequent, Mercer said.

Two years ago, a polar bear made it to the top, which was unusual since polar bears live in coastal areas where it is easy for them to find food. The bear crossed the ice sheet several hundred miles inland. Three polar bears have been seen high on the Greenland ice sheet over the past five years, Mercer said.

She believes that rain will have a lasting effect on the properties of snow, leaving behind a crust of ice that will absorb more energy from the sun until she is buried under the snow. Scambos said this solid layer will also act as a barrier that prevents melt water from flowing downwards, which would then flood the ice sheet and cause runoff at high altitudes.

Due to the layer of ice created by the rain, the weekend rains "will be visible in the ice core records in the future," Mercer said.

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