Many lakes and ponds have not frozen over, including the Great Lakes, where less than 12% of the surface area was covered with ice as of early March, according to NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It’s not good for the dogs, and it’s hard for the mushers to control their sleds.” “When the snow pack gets saturated, it will turn to concrete when it freezes. “Wherever it was already thin, now it was turning to ice,” says Darlene Walch, president of the Upper Peninsula Sled Dog Association. And a popular 216-mile sled dog race in Michigan's Upper Peninsula was cancelled due to unfavorable weather for the first time in its 33-year-history. In Pennsylvania, Whitetail Resort has already closed for the season in Cherry Creek, New York, Cockaigne Resort announced on its webpage that it was closing due to the warm temperatures and rain. Some ski resorts, especially those that rely on natural snow, have struggled to remain open. Ice skaters have abandoned backyard ponds. The warmer conditions have been especially hard on traditional winter sports.Ĭross-country ski trails have not opened in many locations. “A warm month is one thing," says Nagy, “but a warm winter is scary.” Undermining Activities It’s just the same old same old without the magic of snow.”Ĭaroline Nagy moved from New York City to Troy in upstate New York with her husband in hopes of catching colder and snowier winters. enjoy everything having to do with winter,” Leah Ofsevit’s mother, Nancy Mazonson. “When I retired, I thought winter would be my joyful time because I will be able to ski when I want, be outdoors. Instead, the landscape offers brown grass, muddy backyards and spring flowers blooming early. Gone are the four seasons and the scenes many have long associated with winter - snow blanketing backyards, covering trees and piling up in mounds on street corners and in parking lots. The weather service analyzed snowfall totals back to 2019 in the contiguous United States and found the states whose totals are furthest off their average as of mid-February were on the East Coast.įor many who pride themselves on thriving in New England winters, the unusually warm conditions have been disorienting and downright depressing. The polar vortex, which spins like a whirling top above the North Pole, also remained strong through mid-January, which kept the colder air bottled up in Canada, according to Judah Cohen, who studies the relationship between the polar vortex and the weather and is the director of seasonal forecasting for Verisk AER. As a result, the jet stream, which would bring colder conditions to the region, has kept that air closer to the Canadian border rather than dropping down into the northeast. La Niña, which involves a large-scale cooling of ocean surface temperatures, has led to unusual cool conditions in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont all had their warmest January on record, while Indiana, New York and Pennsylvania their second warmest, according to the the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The region has seen plenty of precipitation, but often it has been too warm to snow. The northeast is among the fastest warming regions in the country. Yet, says David Robinson, a Rutgers University geography professor and the New Jersey state climatologist: “For the most part, it's been a winterless winter.” The WhysĪ big reason for the lack of snow has been the warmer conditions, Robinson says - conditions driven in part by human-induced climate change. There have been exceptions like Buffalo, which in November got walloped thanks to lake-effect storm, caused by cold air picking up moisture from warmer lakes. Lack of Snow Across Region Leads to More Opportunities to Help Reduce Risk of Wildfires Similar shortfalls have been seen in Providence, Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C. New York, which typically gets over two feet by now, has seen only 2.2 inches. Philadelphia has gotten only 0.3 inches compared to an average of 19.2. While parts of the Midwest have been hit with repeated snow storms, much of California including Los Angeles got blanketed of late and even parts of the Southwest saw near-blizzard conditions, many East Coast cities have missed out.īoston, known for nasty nor’easters and a blizzard last year that dumped nearly two feet of snow on the city, had seen just over 11 inches as of last week compared to an average of 38.6, according to data from the National Weather Service. Sign up for NBC Philadelphia newsletters.įor much of the eastern United States, from Massachusetts all the way down to parts of West Virginia and into Ohio, winter has been a bust. Get Philly local news, weather forecasts, sports and entertainment stories to your inbox.
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