Update: 2:30pm January 27, 2015

I just found out that Joe Romm at Climate Progress wrote a post quite similar to this one called "The Climate Science Behind New England's Historic Blizzard". I did not see his post until 2pm January 27. He consulted with Dr. Kevin Trenberth, former head of the Climate Analysis Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

Dr Trenberth, one of the world's most respected climate scientists, confirmed the main point of this diary, which is that high ocean heat content associated with human caused climate change is causing winter storms such as this one to intensify more.

I asked Dr. Trenberth to comment on the role climate change has on this latest storm, which is forecast to set records. He explained:

    The number 1 cause of this is that it is winter. In winter it is cold over the continent. But it is warm over the oceans and the contrast between the cold continent and the warm Gulf Stream and surrounding waters is increasing. At present sea surface temperatures are more the 2F above normal over huge expanses (1000 miles) off the east coast and water vapor in the atmosphere is about 10% higher as a result. About half of this can be attributed to climate change.

Please note that it's fundamental atmospheric science that heavier snow will tend to fall in New England as the northern wall of the Gulf Stream and it's eddies move northwards. See Dr. Trenberth's quote above. However, atmospheric physics is not for the faint of heart. For those interested in research articles, here's a link to a research paper that's relatively light on physics which investigated the details of the interactions between a poorly forecast snow storm that intensified rapidly along the Gulf Stream.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/26/1360365/-Unprecedented-Ocean-Heat-off-East-Coast-is-Fueling-the-Historic-Hurricane-Force-Blizzard?detail=email