Several states are experimenting with weather modification to try to generate snow as water supplies shrink. An atmospheric scientist explains the history behind it – and the challenges.
Almost all of the snow at the 2022 Winter Olympics came from machines.
AP Photo/Gregory Bull
Snowmaking machines can produce enough snow to cover a run, but artificial snow is very different from natural flakes that fall from the sky.
The alpine skiing course at the 2022 Winter Olympics, on Feb. 2, 2022, in the Yanqing district of Beijing. All the snow at this year’s Olympic venues is machine-made.
(AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
An analysis of 21 former Winter Olympic venues found that only one of them would be suitable and offer safe racing conditions for athletes if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise.
Boston got socked with nearly 2 feet of snow in late January 2022.
Scott Eisen/Getty Images
Winters are getting warmer, yet Bostonians were digging out from nearly 2 feet of snow from a historic blizzard in late January. Why is the Northeast seeing more big snowstorms like this?
Snowfall in the Sahara desert.
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It’s hard to get accurate measurements, but a nationwide network of more than 8,000 volunteers with rulers and specific standards reports after every storm.
Cold weather exercise can keep us healthy, but there are risks.
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Preparing for being active in cold weather can help keep us safe and increase our enjoyment.
Winter road salting is a common de-icing technique used to ensure public safety during icy winters. However, it is crucial to find sustainable and environment-friendly alternatives to road salt.
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Salty water seeps into our soils and groundwater through surface runoff and storm-water pipes. The long-term storage of salt in the environment impacts aquatic life, infrastructure and drinking water.
Rain falls in Sarek National Park, in Sweden.
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New climate simulations show that there will be more rain and less snow falling in the Arctic by the end of the century, particularly in the fall and winter.
Microplastics, which can originate from the breakdown of plastic products, can be found practically everywhere on our planet.
MrsBrown/Pixabay
As rivers run dry in the Rocky Mountains and the West, it’s easy to wonder where all the snow you see on mountain peaks goes. Some of it ends up in the air, but researchers aren’t sure how much.
Dry conditions across the West follow a hot, dry year of record-setting wildfires in 2020. Communities were left with scenes like this, from California’s Creek Fire.
Amir Aghakouchak/University of California Irvine
Drought conditions are so bad, fish hatcheries are trucking their salmon to the ocean and ranchers are worried about having enough water for their livestock.
A late snowfall could set back the growth of this budding lilac.
oddharmonic/Flickr
Trees and shrubs in cold-weather climates rely on certain signals, such as temperature and light, to know when to leaf out and bloom. Climate change is scrambling those signals.
A leap and a plunge into the snow could earn this arctic fox its supper.
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Zachary Lawrence, University of Colorado Boulder and Amy Butler, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The media often call unusually cold, snowy storms a ‘polar vortex.’ The real polar vortex isn’t coming down to visit the lower 48, but changes to the polar vortex can influence winter weather.
Deicing salts keep winter roads passable but do a lot of harm in the process.
Gregory Rec/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images
De-icing salts help us get around in winter, but they corrode cars, crack roads and contaminate rivers and lakes. Scientists are working to develop better options by imitating natural antifreezes.