Persistent cloud cover over the U.S. Great Lakes region could harm residents’ mental health

For the 34 million people who call the Great Lakes region of the United States home, last winter was… particularly gloomy one due to a lack of sunlight – a reality that could affect the mental health of residents in years to come.

Grand Rapids, Michigansaw only five minutes of sunshine during the first eight days of January 2023. It was the same month Chicago’s cloudiest January in 129 years. At one point, 6.3 million people lived in the greater Toronto region haven’t seen the sun for more than three weeks.

These observations are not just anecdotes. Research from the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts found that January 2023 was one of the cloudiest months since 1950 for a number of Great Lakes cities.

Although experts say it’s difficult to draw a direct link between climate change and winter cloud cover, unfrozen lakes allow moisture from the water to be absorbed into the atmosphere, which can then fuel lake-effect clouds and snow.

“(Last winter) cloud levels were extreme over much of the Great Lakes states, coinciding with extremely low ice cover over the Great Lakes,” said Steve Vavrus, Wisconsin climatologist and director of the U.S. Climatology Bureau. stands.

“We know that open lakes prefer more snowfall because there is more evaporation over ice-free water.”

The five Great Lakes have experienced less ice formation for decades. While the average ice cover at the turn of the year was 9%, only 0.4% was observed on January 1 this year. lowest since measurements began in 1973.

This has serious consequences for the mental health of the millions of people who live on or near the Great Lakes. Less sunlight can have negative effects on people’s mental health, experts say.

“Seasonal affective disorder (sad) is linked to changes in lighting, so cloud cover can have a significant impact on a person’s mood,” says Dr. Kia-Rai Prewitt, a psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

“People may notice that they feel more depressed, have low energy, sleep more, overeat, crave carbohydrates and socialize less, especially during the winter and fall months.”

About 5% of American adults suffer from seasonal affective disorder, a form of depression linked to reduced access to sunlight in the winter. according to the American Psychiatric Association.

While the exact cause of Sad is not knownit is believed that less access to sunlight plays an important role.

“Sadness is more common in people who live in parts of the country that have fewer daylight hours,” Prewitt said, adding that her hometown of Cleveland is “certainly one of those areas of the country.”

A study Google search results and other information showed that three of the five largest U.S. states where residents researched terms like “seasonal depression” and “seasonal affective disorder” are in the Great Lakes region. Ohio – which borders Lake Erie for 260 miles (421.7 km) along its southern coastline – ranks second after Alaska. Minnesota and Michigan are the other two Great Lakes states in the top five.

Research from 1998 to 2016 by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory shows that the Great Lakes states and Ontario experience much lower levels of radiant energy from the sun compared to the rest of North America.

While Cleveland and Chicago may be infamous for their winter cloud cover, their relatively low latitude means they see more daylight during the winter months than many other regional metropolitan centers.

Duluth, Minnesota, and Thunder Bay, Ontario – cities on the shore of Lake Superior, the northernmost body of water in the Great Lakes – only get about 9 hours and 15 minutes of daylight this time of year. Even other dreary northern cities like New York City get – in comparison – 30 minutes more daylight per day.

And while scientists say the difficulty in simulating clouds in research models makes it difficult to definitively say that cloudy days are a certainty in the coming years, it is likely that this will be the case.

“The possible direction of causality (the link between climate change and increased cloud cover) is difficult to determine because while the open lakes have contributed to cloud cover regionally, winter clouds also help keep the lakes warmer than normal,” says Vavrus, director of Wisconsin. state climatologist.

“That said… less ice on the Great Lakes should mean more cloud cover, both locally and downstream of the lakes.”

Decreasing ice cover that has already fallen by 71% between 1973 and 2010 is likely to continue for decades to come. Experts add that ice is likely to form only in the shallowest parts of the Great Lakes, such as the western basin of Lake Erie — where the water is 25 to 30 feet deep — or along the lakes’ shores. Despite the recent Arctic air blast that has brought freezing temperatures to much of North America, the ice cover on Lake Erie is well below the historical average. Ice on the much larger, deeper More Superior lags even further behind.

“The seasonality, thickness and duration of the ice will change,” said Richard Rood, professor emeritus of climate and space science and engineering at the University of Michigan, who notes that the cause is global warming from carbon dioxide emissions and methane gas.

“We are likely to see ice formation mainly during short-term weather events and cold air outbreaks in mid-winter. This ice will have a very different character than the persistent, seasonal ice that was common before 2000.”