While the southeast, and southern Appalachian region in particular dealt with well below normal snowfall this season, other areas of the country have experienced a banner year in the snowfall department. Of course, record snowfall accumulated in the upper Midwest, however, the Rocky Mountain communities have had a particularly snowy and cold time of things this season as well.
Below is an article out of the Summit Daily (Breckenridge, Colorado’s daily newspaper). Check www.summitdaily.com for additional reports.
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SUMMIT COUNTY — As much as High Country locals love powder, this year’s combination of cold temperatures, gloomy skies and continuing April snowstorms have had a somewhat less than positive impact on the overall mood of the community.
“You hear it everywhere,” Breckenridge resident Guy Natanel said. “Even people who are hard-core winter enthusiasts are breaking.”
Local psychologist Dr. Bryan Austill agrees with Natanel’s observation.
“I’ve seen more Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) this year, and more severe episodes of depression in general,” he said.
According to Austill, several factors contributed to this year’s spike in negative mood. Regular sufferers of SAD are particularly susceptible to the decrease in light that naturally occurs with the brief days of winter. When the days shorten, their bodies produce more of the sleep hormone melatonin, rendering them sleepy throughout the day.
“They sleep much more. They feel like eating more carbohydrates and sugar, and they drink more alcohol,” he said.
Short days are only part of the problem, though, Austill added. Weather events such as frequent snowstorms only serve to reinforce feelings of helplessness and hopelessness — both major contributors to depression. Coupled with the potential social isolation encouraged by the dark and cold of winter, these feelings can be devastating to those predisposed to any kind of depression — seasonal or otherwise.
Normally, SAD symptoms start to clear up in the spring, when days lengthen and the sun emerges.
“People with SAD will simply feel better,” Austill said. “Even people with major depressive disorders tend to feel better as the sun comes out.”
In Summit County this year, however, the days may be getting longer, but the other features of winter have yet to ease up.
“It just feels that this winter is never-ending,” Natanel observed. “It’s depressing. You need the sun.”
Although not a sufferer of SAD, Natanel’s reaction to the recent spate of sunless days is reminiscent of a phenomenon seen by Austill in his practice: the attraction of Colorado’s usually sunny climate for those with problems with depression.
“I see people here with mood disorders who have moved out of gray climates — particularly the upper Midwest — in order to treat their symptoms,” he said. For these people, this year’s higher than usual number of gloomy days has been particularly challenging.
An unusual year
And it has been gloomy this year.
“No one measures actual sunshine,” Breckenridge weather-watcher Rick Bly admitted. The measurable precipitation numbers he’s been collecting for the past 30 years, though, give a pretty good indication of what’s been different about this year’s weather.
“Normally, between Oct. 1 and April 1 we see 50 days of measurable precipitation,” he said. This winter, precipitation occurred on 92 days — the equivalent of three straight months — during the same period.
In Bly’s opinion, unusually low temperatures exacerbated this nearly 100 percent increase in cloudy days. According to his readings, Breckenridge recorded only three days above freezing between Dec. 3 and Feb. 14.
“It seemed even more gloomy because of the cold,” he said.
This year’s snow amounts have also been out of the ordinary. With projected totals of around 180 inches, Bly expects 2007-2008 will turn out to be the eighth snowiest winter on record for Breckenridge. The last time the town experienced this much snow was in 1996 — the third snowiest year in history — when he measured 240 inches.
Breckenridge’s peak snow year occurred in 1898-1899, when 398 inches fell in town, with 120 inches in March alone.
Bly’s long-time weather focus has allowed him to put this year in perspective. While he acknowledged that unusual cold temperatures cost him customers in his retail business despite the above average snow, it could’ve been a lot worse.
“In 1980-81, we only got 57 inches of snow,” he said. “It was sunny and nice all winter, but it was depressing because a lot of people went broke.”
A different perspective
While he hasn’t seen an increase in actual SAD in his Breckenridge office, family practice physician Dr. Kendrick Adnan credits this year’s unusual snow accumulation with creating a general “crankiness” in his patients.
“I saw a lot of locals who love the skiing, but they’re sick of doing all the snow removal,” he said. “Some living up on Hoosier Pass are almost living in snow caves.”
In terms of the actual medical effects of the cold and snowy winter, Adnan says he’s seen more frequent and more severe upper respiratory infections, a “really bad” flu season, and, because of the frequency of low pressure weather fronts, an increased number of high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) cases.
“We saw seven HAPEs in one day this winter,” he said.
Adnan’s training in other modalities besides traditional Western medicine has given him a somewhat different attitude toward the long winter.
“In the West, we push, push, push,” he said. “We get cranky because we reject the seasons. In Chinese medicine, we try to embrace them. The dead of winter is the time to retreat and replenish our energy.”
Although generally philosophical about the weather, Natanel, like many locals, has had enough.
“We’re going to Moab this weekend,” he said. “Then next week we’ll go to Israel for a month. Hopefully the snow will be gone by the time we get back.”
Harriet Hamilton can be reached at (970) 668-4651, or at hhamilton@summitdaily.com.
Seasonal Affective Disorder facts
• First described by Hippocrates in the fifth century B.C.
• Officially named SAD in 1984
• Rarely seen south of the 30th parallel (which runs through Houston)
• About 5 percent of New York State residents and 10 percent of those living in Alaska suffer from some form of SAD
• Causes may include disruption of the body’s internal clock, an increase in production of the sleep hormone melatonin, and/or a drop in the body’s secretion of the feel-good neurotransmitter serotonin — all because of a decrease in sunlight
• Symptoms include depression, loss of energy, social withdrawal, oversleeping, carbohydrate craving, and weight gain
• Treatments include light therapy, exercise, getting outdoors, maintaining social involvement, and, of course, waiting for spring
• For more information on SAD, visit the Mayo Clinic’s website at www.mayoclinic.com/health/seasonal-affective-disorder
