Cold wave

Not to be confused with Cold front.
For the musical genre, see Cold wave (music).
"Cold snap" redirects here. For other uses, see Cold snap (disambiguation).

A cold wave (known in some regions as a cold snap) is a weather phenomenon that is distinguished by a cooling of the air. Specifically, as used by the U.S. National Weather Service, a cold wave is a rapid fall in temperature within a 24-hour period requiring substantially increased protection to agriculture, industry, commerce, and social activities. The precise criterion for a cold wave is determined by the rate at which the temperature falls, and the minimum to which it falls. This minimum temperature is dependent on the geographical region and time of year.[1]

In the United States, a cold spell is defined as the national average high temperature dropping below 18 °F (−8 °C).[2]

Effects

A cold wave can cause death and injury to livestock and wildlife. Exposure to cold mandates greater caloric intake for all animals, including humans, and if a cold wave is accompanied by heavy and persistent snow, grazing animals may be unable to reach needed food and die of hypothermia or starvation. They often necessitate the purchase of foodstuffs to feed livestock at considerable cost to farmers.

Cold spells are associated with increased mortality rates in populations around the world.[3] Both cold waves and heat waves cause deaths, though different groups of people may be susceptible to different weather events.[4] In developed countries, more deaths occur during a heat wave than in a cold snap, though the mortality rate is higher in undeveloped regions of the world. Globally, more people die of cold weather than hot weather, due to the rise in diseases like cold, flu, and pneumonia.

Extreme winter cold often causes poorly insulated water pipelines and mains to freeze. Even some poorly protected indoor plumbing ruptures as water expands within them, causing much damage to property and costly insurance claims. Demand for electrical power and fuels rises dramatically during such times, even though the generation of electrical power may fail due to the freezing of water necessary for the generation of hydroelectricity. Some metals may become brittle at low temperatures. Motor vehicles may fail when antifreeze fails or motor oil gels, producing a failure of the transportation system. To be sure, such is more likely in places like Siberia and much of Canada that customarily get very cold weather.

Fires become even more of a hazard during extreme cold. Water mains may break and water supplies may become unreliable, making firefighting more difficult. The air during a cold wave is typically denser and thus contains more oxygen, so when air that a fire draws in becomes unusually cold it is likely to cause a more intense fire.

Winter cold waves that aren’t considered cold in some areas, but cause temperatures significantly below average for an area, are also destructive. Areas with subtropical climates may recognize unusual cold, perhaps barely freezing, temperatures, as a cold wave. In such places, plant and animal life is less tolerant of such cold as may appear rarely. The same winter temperatures that one associates with the norm for Kentucky, northern Utah, or Bavaria are catastrophic to winter crops in Florida or California that might be grown for wintertime consumption farther north, or to such all-year tropical or subtropical crops as citrus fruits. Likewise, abnormal cold waves that penetrate into tropical countries in which people do not customarily insulate houses or have either suitable clothing or reliable heating may cause hypothermia and even frostbite.

Cold waves that bring unexpected freezes and frosts during the growing season in mid-latitude zones can kill plants during the early and most vulnerable stages of growth, resulting in crop failure as plants are killed before they can be harvested economically. Such cold waves have caused famines. At times as deadly to plants as drought, cold waves can leave a land in danger of later brush and forest fires that consume dead biomass. One extreme was the so-called Year Without a Summer of 1816, one of several years during the 1810s in which numerous crops failed during freakish summer cold snaps after volcanic eruptions that reduced incoming sunlight.

Countermeasures

In some places, such as Siberia, extreme cold requires that fuel-powered machinery to be used even part-time must be run continuously. Internal plumbing can be wrapped, and persons can often run water continuously through pipes. Energy conservation, difficult as it is in a cold wave, may require such measures as collecting people (especially the poor and elderly) in communal shelters. Even the homeless may be arrested and taken to shelters, only to be released when the hazard abates.[5] Hospitals can prepare for the admission of victims of frostbite and hypothermia; schools and other public buildings can be converted into shelters.

People can stock up on food, water, and other necessities before a cold wave. Some may even choose to migrate to places of milder climates, at least during the winter. Suitable stocks of forage can be secured before cold waves for livestock, and livestock in vulnerable areas might be shipped from affected areas or even slaughtered. Smudge pots can bring smoke that prevents hard freezes on a farm or grove. Vulnerable crops may be sprayed with water that will paradoxically protect the plants by freezing and absorbing the cold from surrounding air.

Most people can dress appropriately and can even layer their clothing should they need to go outside or should their heating fail. They can also stock candles, matches, flashlights, and portable fuel for cooking and wood for fireplaces or wood stoves, as necessary. However caution should be taken as the use of charcoal fires for cooking or heating within an enclosed dwelling is extremely dangerous due to carbon monoxide poisoning. Adults must remain aware of the exposure that children and the elderly have to cold.

Historical cold waves

Contemporary cold waves (since 2001)

20th-century cold waves

See also

References

  1. "Cold Wave". AMS: Glossary of Meteorology. Retrieved 2008-09-25.
  2. Borenstein, Seth (January 10, 2014). "Winters aren't colder; we're just softer". Florida Today (Melbourne, Florida). pp. 8A. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
  3. Jaakkola, Jouni J.K.; Guo, Yuming; Ryti, Niilo R.I. (2015). "Global Association of Cold Spells and Adverse Health Effects: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis". Environmental Health Perspectives 124 (1). doi:10.1289/ehp.1408104. ISSN 0091-6765.
  4. Joacim, Rocklöv; Bertil, Forsberg; Kristie, Ebi; Tom, Bellander (2014). "Susceptibility to mortality related to temperature and heat and cold wave duration in the population of Stockholm County, Sweden". Global Health Action 7 (0). doi:10.3402/gha.v7.22737. ISSN 1654-9880.
  5. "Police law of Finland 11§" (in Finnish). Retrieved 2008-09-25.
  6. "Dallas, TX Weather Forecast from Weather Underground". Wunderground.com. Retrieved 2013-12-06.
  7. "wfaa.com | Weather | Dallas, Texas (75201) Conditions & Forecast". Weather.wfaa.com. Retrieved 2013-12-06.
  8. name="Pidd, Helen & Elder, Helen" The Guardian: European Cold Snap Threatens Energy Crisis as Death Toll Rises"
  9. name="" Kyiv Post: Ukraine Cold Spell Death Toll Rises 101
  10. Cormier, Bill Buenos Aires Gets First Snow Since 1918, Associated Press via Breitbart.com, July 7, 2007
  11. Cold snap in Argentina leads to energy crunch that idles factories, triggers blackouts, AP via International Herald Tribune, May 31, 2007
  12. "December Weather Trivia". Crh.noaa.gov. Retrieved 2014-01-08.
  13. "Record cold December". Crh.noaa.gov. 2011-07-15. Retrieved 2014-01-08.
  14. "Minneapolis December weather records". Climate.umn.edu. Retrieved 2014-01-08.
  15. 1 2 J.-M. Hirschi, Joël and Sinha, Bablu; ‘Negative NAO and cold Eurasian winters: How exceptional was the winter of 1962/1963?’; Weather Vol. 62, No. 2 (February 2007); pp. 43-48
  16. Rogers, Jeffrey A. and Mosley-Thompson, Ellen; ‘Atlantic Arctic Cyclones and the Mild Siberian Winters of the 1980s’; Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 22 (1995), issue 7; pp. 799-802
  17. 1 2 Diaz, Henry F. and Quayle, Robert G.; ‘The 1976-77 Winter in the Contiguous United States in Comparison with Past Records’; Monthly Weather Review, 106 (1977), no. 10, pp. 1392-1422
  18. Brönnimann, Stefan; ‘The global climate anomaly, 1940–1942’; Weather Vol. 60, No. 12 (December 2005); pp. 336-342
  19. 1 2 Record Coldest Temperatures By State
  20. Arizona Winter Temperatures, 1895-1896 to 2014-2015
  21. Wagner, A. James; ‘The Record-Breaking Winter of 1976-77’; Weatherwise, 30 (1977); no. 2, pp. 65-69

External links

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Travelling in cold weather.
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