Center for a New American Security

After back-to-back storms pounded the Washington metropolitan region and most of the Northeast this week, shutting down the federal government for a record-breaking four consecutive days, life is slowly returning to normal. The storm left thousands without power for parts of the week, crippled public transportation and shutdown the region’s three major airports. The Washington Post reports that “Snowmageddon” helped to shatter the seasonal snowfall record, with totals reaching “55.9 inches at Reagan National Airport, 72.8 inches at Dulles International Airport and 79.9 inches at Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport.”

The photos above show a snow covered Iwo Jima Marine Corps Memorial, just one the many dramatic scenes left in the wake of the historic winter weather. 

Some climate change skeptics have used the week’s events as evidence against climate change. But some scientists have responded, with recent stories populating the pages of The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic and The Los Angeles Times (to name a few). The bottom line message can best be summed up by John Broder at The New York Times:

A federal government report issued last year, intended to be the authoritative statement of known climate trends in the United States, pointed to the likelihood of more frequent snowstorms in the Northeast and less frequent snow in the South and Southeast as a result of long-term temperature and precipitation patterns. The Climate Impacts report, from the multiagency United States Global Change Research Program, also projected more intense drought in the Southwest and more powerful Gulf Coast hurricanes because of warming. In other words, if the government scientists are correct, look for more snow. (emphasis mine)

Photos courtesy of Christine Parthemore/CNAS.