A weird winter winds down: New data details record warmth, strange snow patterns – USA TODAY
If you live in the eastern U.S. and thought the winter was unusually toasty, you were probably right: It was among the top two warmest winters on record in eight states from Massachusetts to Kentucky, according to weather data released Wednesday by federal climate scientists.
(For statistical purposes, climatologists and meteorologists define winter as the coldest three months of the year, thus winter ended Feb. 28. Astronomical winter still has a couple of weeks to go, as the spring equinox isn’t until March 20.)
The other six states that had a top-two record warm winter were Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia and Virginia, the National Centers for Environmental Information said Wednesday.
Overall, the Northeast’s average temperature of 31.9 degrees was 5.2 degrees warmer than normal, the Northeast Regional Climate Center said.
And unlike the colossal snowfalls in the West, snow was also on holiday this season across the region. So far, Boston has seen just under a foot of snow, compared to an average of over 41 inches, according to data from the National Weather Service.
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Philadelphia has gotten only 0.3 inch compared to an average of 20.5 inches. New York, which typically gets over two feet by now, has seen only 2.2 inches. Similar shortfalls have been seen in Providence, Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C. and parts of West Virginia.
Drilling down further on temperature, the month of February itself was also unusually warm, especially in the East and South.
In fact, February temperatures were the warmest on record for more than 1.9 million people in eight cities across the U.S. The month was among the top-three warmest for 35 additional cities, according to federal weather data compiled by Climate Central.
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As the globe heats up due to climate change, southeastern cities have seen the greatest degree of February warming since 1970, with Albany, Georgia, seeing the biggest increase in the month’s average temperature, followed by Chattanooga, Tampa, Atlanta and New Orleans. But Burlington, Vermont, is sixth on that list
Almost half of the nation’s temperature recording stations — 90 out of 192 — saw an average February temperature more than five degrees above average. Only 43 cities saw cooler-than-normal average temperatures.
More:Graphics show snowfall totals in California: Over 50 feet with more expected this weekend
While easterners have enjoyed a mostly mild and dry winter, that certainly hasn’t been the case in the Far West. “February 2023 was an extraordinary month for snow in California,” wrote UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain on his blog Weather West.
“In the SoCal mountains, particularly the (San Bernardino Mountains), what was arguably the worst blizzard since the late 1980s in this part of the state has led to a widespread state of emergency,” wrote Swain, “with folks trapped for extended periods without food or electricity (and resulting in a National Guard activation).”
And there is some good news in the West despite the hardships: Since January, NOAA reports that a series of storms brought “record amounts of rain and snow to California,” improving the drought coverage from 98% on January 3 to 49% on February 28.
Contributing: The Associated Press
