Yes, it is snowing in Chicago and other parts of the Midwest.
Yes, it is April 27 — a mere four days until May.
Yes, people are heading to Twitter and social media to freak out.
And finally, yes, we’ll forget our shock as soon as the next extreme weather event happens.
That’s what a study from earlier in 2019 conducted by the UC Davis environmental science and policy researcher Frances Moore found after examining 2 billion tweets over a two-and-half year period. It found that we tweet about unusual weather because it stands out, but as it becomes more normal, we accept it as how it is and post about it less. In this way we slowly acclimate to extreme weather from climate change, the study asserts.
So Saturday’s late-April snowstorm in Chicago stands out now, but in the long-run it’ll blend into the February heatwaves, torrential flooding, and other once-remarkable-but-now-not-so-notable weather we experience as the climate changes.
SEE ALSO: This Twitter bot forecasts the weather with emoji
In this particular situation, as more snow and cold temperatures strike later into spring, we’re more likely to not notice the strangeness and bizarre patterns — and eventually accept May snowfall as a normal trend, even if it’s not.
Enjoy the weather ]]>😎😜🕵