Cover photo from "Study reveals a widespread decline of snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere"
Climate change deniers make a big deal about a quote from years ago, that went like this:
"According to Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit of the University of East Anglia, within a few years winter snowfall will become "a very rare and exciting event". "Children just aren't going to know what snow is," he said."
Anytime there's a heavy snow (even a lake-effect snow augmented by ice-free lakes that are warmer than the mean for that time of the year), this quote gets dragged out, and the sniggering begins.
However, parents are taking it seriously. Because as the persistent snow line moves northward, more and more places that used to get snow regularly in the winter are getting less and less of it in the winter, and some places are going years without any, or not enough for any kind of winter recreation.
This opinion piece from the Washington Post emphasized that:
What is winter without snow? Our children are finding out
"But there is an added layer of melancholy for parents who came of age in a time and place where winter meant snow, who realize that their formative childhood experiences might not be shared by the next generation. Snow days aren’t what they once were: Many parents are now expected to work remotely, and more school districts across the country have introduced virtual learning as an alternative to a day off. The climate is changing, and so is our culture.
“This is hard to explain to some people, because not everyone cares about snow, and some people assume snow grief is just connected to skiing,” Maria Finnegan, a mom to a 3-year-old in New Hampshire, told me. “But that’s not what it is to me. A huge part of my identity is connected to this seasonal shift that is just incredibly beautiful.”
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