Reading time: about 6 minutesCornell experienced up to 14 inches of snow amid Winter Storm Fern, which touched down in Tompkins County on Feb. 1 and lasted until Feb. 2. Winter Storm Fern developed in part from an upper-level low — a closed and circulating whirlpool of cold air — off the California and Mexico coast on Jan. 22. Cornell climatologist Jessica Spaccio, Earth and atmospheric sciences, explained to The Sun why Winter Storm Fern was so unique. The Northeast is experiencing a 50% or greater increase in heavy precipitation, and models predict a 2 to 5% increase in winter precipitation per degree of warming. Winter Storm Fern was an attestation that climate change does not merely increase global atmospheric temperatures — extreme weather events will become increasingly volatile.
