Last week's snow has melted away, leaving puddles all across the metro. Will that runoff cause any lasting impacts?
One expert says: Not quite.
"The kind of snow that we had has a ratio of about 10-to-1; in other words, 10 inches of snow equals one inch of liquid water," LSU Health climatologist Barry Keim said. "The impacts are extraordinarily small, if any, and hydrologically, it's not a big deal. It's just like getting a half-inch rain event, which is very common in Louisiana."
Keim says the water resulting from that snow will do little to prevent a future drought or to hurt local agriculture and aquaculture, including upcoming crawfish harvests. In fact, he says the amount of water produced by the snow is about the same as a typical summer storm.
"The amount of liquid water equivalent that is involved in the snow like we had is very, very small," Keim said. "I would argue that most places had quite a bit less than an inch of liquid-equivalent water."
According to Keim, the big question following the snow storm is: is this snow event a harbinger of climate change? Keim says the jury is still out.
"This event raises a lot of questions about what is going on in our climate," Keim said. "Keep in mind, we haven't seen anything like this in New Orleans in 130 years. Is that meaningful? I shrug my shoulders: I have no idea. It's definitely a fluke event, but is it a sign that things are changing? Well, we had one of these 130 years ago. That might tell you something."
