Study: Global warming means wacky weather near Great Lakes

Jim Lynch / The Detroit News

In coming years, global warming will have a bizarre, seemingly incongruous impact on winters here in the Great Lakes region: shorter, milder cold seasons coupled with bigger winter storms.

That is the consensus among researchers involved in a National Wildlife study titled "Oddball Winter Weather: Global Warming's Wake-up Call for the Northern United States."

"The next few decades will bring both more unusually warm winters and record-breaking snowstorms," the report reads.

In the report's simplest terms, warmer air can hold more water, meaning heavier precipitation via rains, sleets and snows. Another impact of global warming is a general shifting of storm tracks to the north.

In Michigan and other states bordering the Great Lakes, those factors mean an increase in the amount of lake effect snow that is falling. With the lakes freezing less often and later than normal, more water off the surface is allowed to evaporate, further fueling storm systems with more ammunition for snow.

"Lake effect snow is expected to continue increasing over the next few decades and then eventually decline as rising wintertime temperatures lead to rain instead of snow," the report states.

The impact of these changing winters could be felt by those who spend their time skiing and ice fishing. Resorts may be forced to generate more of their own snow to keep slopes in shape. And the amount of time fishermen can spend on the ice could be reduced. The report states rivers and lakes in the northern hemisphere are already freezing roughly six days later in the winter season than they did a century ago.

jlynch@detnews.com (313) 222-2034