United States has warmest winter on record; region has seen less snow so far
Mar. 2—By GREG JORDAN
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
BLUEFIELD — Winter is edging to a close, but the region's warmer average temperatures and considerably less than average snowfall has made the season not quite like the winters many remember from the past.
The National Weather Service in Blacksburg, Va. recently estimated the average high winter temperature from Dec. 1, 2023 to Feb. 29 this year. When the highs temperatures were averaged, the Bluefield area's average high was 37.3 degrees, about 3.2 degrees above normal, said meteorologist Patrick Wilson. The normal winter average is 35 degrees.
Wilson said the winter of 2022-23 was actually warmer. Then the average high was 39.1 degrees.
Previous winters have had even higher temperatures. During the winter of 1949-50, the average high was 42.8 degrees, Wilson said after checking weather service records.
What has made more recent winters seem less like winter is a lack of snow, Wilson said. This year the winter snowfall has been well below normal.
"You should have had 25 inches and you had 19.8 inches," he said. "The winter before that was 8.4 inches."
This snowfall deficit fuels the idea that local winters are considerably warmer than usual.
"It's not necessarily the warmest winter. It's just that we haven't necessarily had much snow," Wilson said. "This is the second winter in a row where the snow's been just lacking. The last real snowstorm was around maybe five, six winters ago."
On the national level, AccuWeather meteorologists said Friday that millions of Americans just experienced the warmest meteorological winter on record.
Every state in the continental U.S. had temperatures warmer than the historical average this winter, unlike last winter when the western U.S. was colder than the historical average. Three states reported their warmest meteorological winter on record; Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.
"It's the year without a winter in the upper Midwest," said AccuWeather Chief Broadcast Meteorologist Bernie Rayno. "It continues today with temperatures well above the historical averages by 15 to 20 degrees."
Cities including Minneapolis, Minnesota, Milwaukee, Des Moines and Albany, N.Y. all saw mean winter temperatures 8 to 12 degrees Fahrenheit above the historical average, AccuWeather meteorologists said.
The data is based on the average temperature ranking for Dec. 1, 2023 through Feb. 29, compared to all winters since 1893.
AccuWeather meteorologists said El Niño was a key factor behind the unusually warm winter across much of the northeast, Midwest and northern Plains. When water near the equator of the eastern Pacific Ocean is above long-term historical averages to create an El Niño, the northern tier of the U.S. typically sees drier and milder conditions during the winter season.
"A strong El Niño that officially developed last summer has significantly contributed to a mild, snowless winter season for the northeast Plains, Midwest, and Great Lakes," explained AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Expert Paul Pastelok. "December started with a strong, dominant storm track from the Gulf Coast to the Northeast. With a lack of cold, these systems produced mainly rain and produced very little snowpack. There were not many areas of the globe that were consistently cold through the three-month period, so there was nowhere to drag any persistent cold air into the weather patterns of North America."
AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter said the warming climate also contributed to the unusually mild conditions for much of the country this winter.
"This existing trend, resulting from a warming atmosphere driven by climate change, and other factors, was likely amplified this winter as a result of the additional warmth imparted in the atmosphere by the El Niño," Porter said. "The largest increases in average temperature, as compared to long-term historical averages, have been across the northern part of the United States, especially during the winter months."
Many cities in the northeast U.S. also struggled with a substantial snowfall deficit this winter.
In the heart of lake-effect snow country, Syracuse reported a 59.3-inch snowfall deficit, compared to the historical average. Seasonal snowfall totals in Boston fell 28.9 inches below the historical average.
Despite an overall lackluster winter in the northeast, a stormy weather pattern in January finally brought an official end to a plus 700-day-snow-drought for New York City, Washington D.C., Philadelphia and most of the Interstate 95 corridor, AccuWeather meteorologists said.
A lack of prolonged cold spells also led to a new historic low for ice cover on the Great Lakes this winter.
Only 2.7 percent of the Great Lakes were covered by ice on Feb. 11. The lack of ice in the Great Lakes region this winter led to widespread impacts to ice fishing, winter sports and outdoor winter events.
The last day of winter is March 19.
— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
