Can We Expect More Cold Weather Blasts For The Borderland In The Future?

It wasn’t the coldest weather the city has seen. That happened when the temperatures dropped to -8 back in 1962.

But it was cold. Really cold.

Cold enough that it brought the city to it’s knees.

El Paso Water Utilities estimated 15,000 pipes burst just on private properties due to the sub-zero weather.

We broke five temperature records, one of which was the lowest high temperature the city had seen in at least 130 years.

But was the event really as rare as everyone thought?

A local climate expert said these temperatures happen more often than you might think.

“The event that we had last week in terms of cold temperatures is even more frequent than the flood we had back in 2006. That was a pretty rare event, but of course not unprecedented. But the cold, actually, you could make an argument that every 20 years we get this kind of arctic intrusion in the area,” said National Weather Service meteorologist David Novlan.

It’s not just El Paso feeling the chill.

Cold weather records have been set all over the nation this season.

Does that mean global warming is really just full of hot air?

“Two consecutive winters that are cold do not disprove global warming, and yet also one major heat wave in the summer doesn’t prove that you’re having a major warming also,” said Novlan. In fact, climatologists generally look at a minimum of 30 years when it comes to deciding whether or not an area is warming or cooling. Even though history has shown our area has actually been warming over the past 30 years, meteorologists warn it doesn’t mean we can’t expect — and shouldn’t be prepared for — a major deep freeze every couple of decades.