Science | climate change Killer Storms, Mild Winters: That's Climate Change Atmospheric physics are apparently behind it By Neal Colgrass Posted Feb 18, 2013 6:13 PM CST Copied Pedestrians make their way down a road during whiteout conditions in Salisbury, Mass. Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola) Climate skeptics may be chuckling, but scientists say our odd mix of extreme snowstorms and otherwise-mild snowfall is caused by climate change. Apparently it's all atmospheric physics: Lower temperatures give us more rain and less snow, but a warmer atmosphere can retain and drop more moisture, which leads to storms like don't-name-it-Nemo. And man-made global warming is likely behind it all. Statistics back up the odd feast-or-famine winter weather, the AP reports. Twice as many heavy snowstorms have struck the US in the past half-century than over the previous 60 years; at the same time, the Northern Hemisphere's spring snow cover has dwindled by about 1 million square miles. "Shorter snow season, less snow overall, but the occasional knockout punch," says a Princeton climate scientist. "That's the new world we live in." Read These Next Harry Potter's Emma Watson just lost her license. 500 tons of emergency food for kids abroad: Headed for the trash. The country of Eswatini is about to be on your radar. Union says 17 immigration court judges have been fired since Friday. Report an error