“Brrr, it’s cold here! There must be some Bearcats in the atmosphere! Oh wait! Winter’s here! Where’s the snow? The beaches of California are great and all but why don’t we have any snow? Bearcats want to go sledding too! Well where there is a will there is a way!
Snow is appealing to the residents of Paso Robles because in Paso Robles it does not snow in the area. Fortunately, Paso Robles residents are within driving distance of national parks such as Yosemite and Lake Tahoe, where winter weather is much more common.
During the winter season, Paso Robles residents including Paso Robles Bearcats love to travel to the snow and enjoy it. From ski trips to snow days, winter adventures reflect both excitement and change. Bearcat Sophomore Rebeka Patron Medina went to Shaver Lake this past year with her family.
“Going to the snow was really fun,” Medina said. “ My cousin and I kept throwing snowballs at each other.”
In recent years, there have been some temperature changes to these places which affects how often snow falls and how long it stays. The cause? Well the culprit is none other than Climate change. Climate change is linked to an increased greenhouse gases (like carbon dioxide) that trap heat in the atmosphere and raise temperatures. When temperatures rise, some storms that used to once fought snow now bring rain instead, and because of that there isn’t consistent snow being dropped making snow melt faster.
According to NPR, the highest snowfalls in Yosemite occurred in earlier years. The highest snow fall in Yosemite is recorded as 96 inches in 1983 and in April 2015 the lowest snowfall was recorded to be just 2 inches. As time passes dioxide levels follow. This isn’t just happening in Yosemite but across the whole world. With the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere results in the temperature increasing meaning that the temperature can get hotter leaving us no cold weather, no ice, and no snow.
Snow might be rare at home, but for Bearcats, winter still means finding it somewhere while its still there to find.
