2026年2月15日 / 美国东部时间上午9:27 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
凝视著名画作《华盛顿横渡特拉华河》时，你无法忽视画中的冰——它无处不在。费城郊外华盛顿渡 Historic Park的教育工作者亚历克斯·罗布表示，寒冷天气成为了华盛顿军事战略的一部分。”这极大地阻碍了渡河行动并危及整个作战计划，”他说，”但实际上它成了我们的盾牌。”
《华盛顿横渡特拉华河》
伊曼纽尔·洛伊策（Emanuel Leutze）创作于1851年，布面油画，藏于纽约大都会艺术博物馆，版权由GraphicaArtis/盖蒂图片社所有。
1776年末，在连遭败绩后，华盛顿的军队濒临崩溃。但罗布称，圣诞夜特拉华河结起薄冰时，英军误以为美军不可能冒险渡河。
他们错了……寒冷天气反而为华盛顿带来了出其不意的优势。特伦顿战役的胜利证明战争仍有胜算。
罗布说：”回想起来，如果当时天气更温和，他们肯定会在特伦顿城外遭遇抵抗。几摄氏度的温差，就决定了一场战役的胜负。”
每年，美国独立战争重演者都会齐聚一堂，纪念1776年圣诞夜华盛顿将军的特拉华河渡河壮举。（哥伦比亚广播公司新闻）
当时的美国人早已习惯严寒的冬季，托马斯·杰斐逊的手写气象记录可为佐证。但自那以后，冬季气温逐渐升高。”从华盛顿时代至今，气温一直呈稳步上升趋势，”科学非营利组织气候中心的数据分析师詹·布雷迪表示。他们的研究显示，费城地区冬季平均气温虽历年波动，但总体比1970年高出5.5华氏度。
至于宾夕法尼亚州华盛顿渡附近当前的天气状况，布雷迪称：”降雪仍会发生，部分地区依然寒冷，但整体强度会减弱。”
“这是一台时光机”
格陵兰岛和南极冰川中提取的冰芯是气候变化最有力的证据。这些长管冰芯中封存着完美保存的气泡，钻探深度越深，气泡年代越久远。”这就像一种神奇的穿越方式，”西雅图华盛顿大学冰川学家埃里克·斯泰格说，”简直是时光机。”
冰川学家埃里克·斯泰格正在切割冰芯，展示其中封存的可追溯至美国建国初期的空气气泡。（哥伦比亚广播公司新闻）
斯泰格向我们展示了一根1776年的冰芯，其中封存着当年的微量空气。”你呼吸的空气里，或许就有乔治·华盛顿当年吸入的分子，”斯泰格解释道。
这些气泡中含有二氧化碳——这种气体是地球温度调节的关键。过去80万年，冰芯中记录的碳浓度虽有波动，但从未超过百万分之300。直到1800年前后，碳浓度开始飙升。
究竟是什么导致了这次剧变？”是人类开始大规模燃烧化石燃料，而且速度极快，”斯泰格说。
美国独立战争时期正值工业革命开端，自那时起，汽车、工厂和发电厂大量燃烧石油与天然气，释放出巨量二氧化碳。这导致全球气温上升，加剧了极端洪水、干旱和火灾等灾害。
斯泰格指出：”人们需要明白，世界正在发生且将持续发生变化，理解未来的趋势至关重要。”
由此可见，当华盛顿眺望冰封的特拉华河时，历史画卷已显露出两大变革信号：一是美国的诞生历程，二是气候变化的开端。而这两者至今仍在塑造着我们的世界。
如果华盛顿穿越到2026年，他会作何感想？斯泰格回答：”从那个时代穿梭过来的人，一定会震惊于世界的巨变。”
更多信息来源：
- 亚历克斯·罗布，华盛顿渡历史公园（宾夕法尼亚州华盛顿渡）
- 詹·布雷迪，气候中心高级数据分析师兼研究经理
- 埃里克·斯泰格，华盛顿大学环境学院冰川学家
- 感谢明尼苏达大学气候适应伙伴关系的马丁·弗罗格·席尔瓦及美国冰芯钻探项目
本文由罗伯特·马斯顿制作，编辑：查德·卡丹。
How Washington’s crossing of the Delaware presaged a changing world
February 15, 2026 / 9:27 AM EST / CBS News
Spend some time staring at the famous painting “Washington Crossing the Delaware,” and you can’t miss the ice. It’s everywhere. Cold weather became part of Washington’s military strategy, says Alex Robb, an educator at Washington Crossing Historic Park outside Philadelphia. “It does a lot to impede the crossing and endanger the whole operation,” he said, “but it actually becomes our shield.”
“Washington Crossing the Delaware” by Emanuel Leutze, 1851. Oil on canvas. From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. GraphicaArtis/Getty Images
At the end of 1776, after a string of losses, Washington’s army was on the verge of collapse. But Robb says that on Christmas, with ice forming in the Delaware River, the enemy assumed it was too dangerous for the Americans to cross.
They were wrong … and the cold weather handed Washington the element of surprise. His victory at Trenton was a sign that the war could still be won.
Robb said, “Looking back, had the weather proven more mild, they most definitely would’ve encountered resistance outside Trenton.” Just a few degrees made the difference between winning and losing a battle.
Every year, Revolutionary War re-enactors gather to mark the anniversary of Gen. Washington’s crossing of the Delaware on Christmas 1776. CBS News
At that time, Americans were used to colder winters. We know that from Thomas Jefferson’s meticulous, handwritten weather records. But since then, winter has gotten warmer. “Ever since Washington was here, there has been a steady increase,” said Jen Brady, a data analyst at the science non-profit Climate Central. Their research shows that average winter temperatures in the Philadelphia area have gone up and down over the years. But overall, they are now 5.5 degrees warmer than they were in 1970.
As for the current weather conditions around Washington Crossing, Pa., Brady said, “It will continue to snow. There will continue to be cold in cold places. But there will be less of it.”
“It’s a time machine”
The best evidence of our changing climate comes from ice cores – long tubes of ice extracted out of glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica. And inside the ice core are perfectly-preserved air bubbles. The deeper you drill, the older the bubbles. “It’s this sort of magical way of going back in time,” said Eric Steig, a glaciologist at the University of Washington in Seattle. “It’s a time machine.”
Glaciologist Eric Steig slices an ice core, showing trapped air bubbles dating back to the birth of the United States. CBS News
Steig showed us one ice core that dates from 1776, containing tiny pockets of air from that time. “So, like, you’re breathing a little bit of the air that George Washington breathed,” Steig said.
Those bubbles contain carbon dioxide, a gas that helps regulate Earth’s temperature. And for 800,000 years the carbon levels found in ice cores have gone up and down, but never above 300 parts per million – not until around 1800, when they started to take off.
What changed at that point to make that spike? “We began burning fossil fuels, and we’re doing it really fast,” Steig said.
CBS News
Since the Industrial Revolution, which began around the time of the American Revolution, our cars, factories, and power plants have been burning oil and gas and emitting massive amounts of carbon dioxide. That has led to warmer temperatures, which can intensify extreme floods, droughts and fires.
Steig said, “It would seem to me it’s good for people to understand things have changed, and will continue to change, and have an understanding of what to expect going forward.”
So, it turns out, around the time Washington looked out on the icy Delaware, there were two important pictures coming into focus: One, the story of America; the other, the beginnings of climate change.
And both continue to shape our world.
What would Washington say if he showed up in 2026? Steig replied, “You pluck somebody from that time period, they would see things having changed quite dramatically.”
For more info:
- Alex Robb, Washington Crossing Historic Park, Washington Crossing, Pa.
- Jennifer Brady, senior data analyst and research manager, Climate Central
- Eric Steig, glaciologist, College of the Environment, University of Washington, Seattle
- Thanks to Martin Froger Silva, University of Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership, and the U.S. Ice Drilling Program
Story produced by Robert Marston. Editor: Chad Cardin.
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