A national report on climate change finds even with global warming, we’ll still have plenty of snow in the winters ahead in Iowa and across much of the country’s northern half. State Climatologist, Harry Hillaker, says climate change is very gradual and snow blowers and shovels will remain necessities. Hillaker says the report from M-I-T didn’t exactly go out on a limb in predicting continued snowy winters for Iowa.
The Old Farmers’ Almanac forecasts the winter ahead will be colder than usual, then next summer will be hotter. The publication predicts winter temperatures, precipitation and snowfall will all be below normal, with the coldest period running from early December into the first half of January.
Hillaker says no one can really predict now, at summer’s end, what the weather will be this winter.
The M-I-T study predicts some regions will see less snowfall, but the snowfall extremes may actually intensify. Hillaker notes Iowa’s had above-average snowfall in seven of the past eight winters.
