S
nowstorms in Iowa? Sure. Snowstorms in tropical Ha-
waii?!? How can that possibly be?
Maybe you've gotten accustomed to climate change ma-
kin the weather you're used to worse. But these days, we're
not just talking "worse." We're talking weird. Weird, and dangerous.
While rain in Washington State and British Columbia is noth-
ing new, the torrential downpours causing severe flooding and
mudslides in the Pacific Northwest are. Meteorologists blame a
weird "atmospheric river," a band of air high in the atmosphere
that is more potent because climate change has made the
atmosphere warmer. That means the "river" holds more moisture
46 | January/February 2022
Weird, Dangerous Weather is the New Norm, Unless…
By Diane MacEachern
and moves so much more slowly it can get "stuck" over a region.
When it does, downpours, floods, and mudslides occur.
"Weird" is rampaging through the redwoods, too. While the
Rockies always see some fire, the iconic sequoias have been so
threatened that park rangers had to . It's a tree trunk, for good-
ness' sake, not a baked potato.
Meanwhile, poor Hawaii. Honestly, it's not unusual to see some
snow on Hawaii's highest peaks, which are more than 13,000 feet
high. But the last time an actual blizzard hit there was in 2018.
Here's another weird detail: this may be the first year that Hawaii
has had so much snow before the Rockies and Great Plains.
