U.S. Deep Freeze December 2016

The December 2016 cold air outbreak in the United States was found to be a common winter occurrence and not evidence that global warming is increasing the extremity of cold weather. Analysis of stations in Boulder, Colorado, and New Orleans, Louisiana, indicates that cold extremes are generally decreasing in intensity, particularly in New Orleans where the coldest day of the year is 3.2°F warmer than a century ago. The study concludes that while northerly wind patterns show no significant trend, the Arctic source regions for this cold air are warming rapidly, leading to a general decrease in the intensity of such outbreaks in both observations and climate models.

• The December 2016 cold air outbreak was not an unusual event and does not contradict the overall trend of global warming or suggest that climate change is making cold weather more extreme.
• Cold air outbreaks are decreasing in intensity according to both climate models and observations, primarily because the Arctic, which serves as the source of the cold air, is warming strongly.
• While some research suggests a link between melting Arctic sea ice and more frequent cold air outbreaks, the majority of studies find no such influence, and some evidence suggests sea-ice decline may actually result in fewer cold extremes over central and eastern North America.

APA

World Weather Attribution (2016). U.S. Deep Freeze December 2016. https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/u-s-deep-freeze-december-2016/

Chicago

World Weather Attribution. U.S. Deep Freeze December 2016. 2016. https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/u-s-deep-freeze-december-2016/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Weather Attribution |title=U.S. Deep Freeze December 2016 |date=8 December 2016 |url=https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/u-s-deep-freeze-december-2016/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldweatherattribution2016deep, author = {{World Weather Attribution}}, title = {{U.S. Deep Freeze December 2016}}, institution = {World Weather Attribution}, year = {2016}, month = dec, url = {https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/u-s-deep-freeze-december-2016/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }