01-03 Rain or Snow - John Bulloch

Rain, snow, sleet, freezing rain or even pellets. It is just part of living in a northern climate. But increasingly with climate change it is mostly about rain. In the Arctic more rain and less snow means less white stuff to reflect the sun. So everything gets hotter. Tough for people and wildlife.

Living in Ontario means a climate not unlike the northern parts of the US, northern Europe, the Nordic countries and Russia. Everywhere there is less snow and more rain. Tough for those who love to ski.
When the temperatures are close to freezing and we get freezing rain, slush and even pellets that’s when we try to avoid the outdoors. Well, here in Southern Ontario, I don’t think we’ve experienced freezing rain or any of that other nasty stuff for over a decade.
My real climate change education came in 2009 when visiting Qaqortoq in Southern Greenland.
The first thing they did was show us the nearest mountain which has been green for the last couple of years. This mountain of white used to reflect the sun, but now it absorbs more heat and the local climate is warmer than ever.
The word “reflective” is something you hear when travelling in any northern Arctic nation. Less snow and ice means less sun reflected. So much for average warming global temperatures, the Arctic is warming now.
Not all bad news. Longer growing seasons in all the Arctic nations and more rain means growing vegetables and strawberries. Those Greenland potatoes are famous and coveted by chefs the world over.
The big news in Greenland was the amount of rain they had had in the previous winter. This mean that on the ice sheets offshore, it was water rather than snow on the surface. Again its that reflectivity thing.
More ocean to absorb heat, but warmer waters for all varieties of fish. When we were in Greenland it was mackerel and Bluefin tuna. Fishing is a bigger industry in Greenland, Iceland and all the Nordic nations.
This rain, however, is creating sheets of ice on top of the snow and ice sheets in the oceans that are melting away. Both are deadly for wildlife.
The disappearance of polar bears in Southern Greenland has already happened. Then there are the walruses and Ringed seals who rest on the ice sheets. The ice foxes who break through the snow to find small mammals. And the Bowhead whales who are looking for those wandering fish lunches. Not too many animal winners in the north.
For the Inuit, the traditional hunting and fishing lifestyle is being replaced by working on development projects. Life is full of change. More rain and less snow is a big deal.