- OAK RIDGE, Tenn -- It's looking
and feeling a lot less like Christmas in many parts of the country as higher
temperatures and fewer snowfalls are becoming the norm from Thanksgiving
to Christmas Eve.
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- Looking at states that typically get snow, 197 of 260
weather stations have reported fewer days with snowfall since 1948, according
to statistics provided by Dale Kaiser, a meteorologist in the Carbon Dioxide
Information Analysis Center at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National
Laboratory. The survey looked at the 30-day period from Nov. 25 to Dec.
24 from 1948 to 2001.
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- The decrease in the number of snow days has been especially
pronounced east of the Mississippi River, where 117 of 125 stations reported
an average of five fewer days with snowfall.
-
- "Five fewer days of snowfall over a 30-day period
may not seem all that significant until you consider that, in many regions,
snow days occur relatively infrequently," Kaiser said.
-
- One region that is more wintry between the holidays,
however, extends from the Central Rocky Mountain states (Utah, Colorado
and Wyoming) eastward into the Central Plains (mainly Nebraska), where
the number of days with snow has increased significantly.
-
- "The area across the Central Rockies and Central
Plains is the one part of the country that is bucking the trend, with a
few stations in Utah and Colorado seeing nearly 10 more days with snowfall,"
Kaiser said.
-
- Nationwide, taking into account only what scientists
define as "statistically significant" data, 197 stations experienced
declines in the number of days with snowfall while 63 stations had increasing
trends. The statistically significant designation means there is a 95 percent
probability that this trend did not occur by chance.
-
- In the East, leading the pack with a trend of nine-plus
fewer days with snowfall were Batavia, N.Y., with 12.5, Medford, Wisc.,
with 11.7, Dansville, N.Y., with 10.6, Towanda, Pa., with 10.3 and Sault
Ste. Marie, Mich., with 9.3. Skipping down the list, other cities experiencing
fewer days with snowfall include:
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- Columbus, Ohio -- 7.8
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- Indianapolis -- 6.5
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- Minneapolis -- 6.0
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- Philadelphia -- 5.2
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- Chicago -- 4.8
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- Washington, D.C. -- 4.3
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- Nashville -- 4.1
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- For many cities, the weather described by the data is
actually what was recorded at nearby stations. For example, the weather
for Sault Ste. Marie was recorded at Newberry while the weather for Washington,
D.C., was recorded at Glendale, Md.
-
- In the West, stations reporting trends of more snowfall
days during the 30-day period were led by Provo, Utah, with 9.8 more snow
days during the 30-day period, followed closely by Morgan, Utah, with 9.5
and, to skiers' delight, Dillon, Colo., with 8.3. Other cities experiencing
more snow days include:
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- Cle Elum, Wash. -- 6.1
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- Hastings, Neb. -- 5.9
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- Salt Lake City -- 5.0
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- Boulder, Colo. -- 3.5
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- Stations in the East that showed significant decreases
in snow days had an overall warming trend of 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit.
-
- "We examined trends in temperatures at 613 weather
stations," Kaiser said. "East of the Mississippi, many stations
extending from Indiana to southern New England showed significant warming
from 1948 to 2001.
-
- "This is consistent with fewer snowfall days over
this region and may be at least part of the reason for fewer snowfall days.
West of the Mississippi, only a few scattered stations showed significant
warming; however, many stations over the central Rocky Mountain states
have cooled significantly for this 30-day period."
-
- Kaiser cautioned against reading too much into the survey,
saying, "Although this work shows real changes over parts of the U.S.
in snowfall days and temperature for this 30-day period, this cannot be
used to draw conclusions about changes in weather over the entire winter,
nor do these findings necessarily relate to the broader issue of global
warming."
-
- ### The Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (http://cdiac.ornl.gov/http://cdiac.ornl.gov/),
which includes the World Data Center for Atmospheric Trace Gases, is the
primary global change data and information analysis center of DOE. The
center responds to requests for data and information from users all over
the world.
-
- ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of
Energy.
-
- This story has been adapted from a news release issued
by Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
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- http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/11/031128082424.htm
-
-
- Comment
- From Jim Mortellaro
- 12-2-3
-
-
- Well, we seem to have a real problem here. Last winter,
I received more than seven feet of snow. There was no spring. It was cold
and rained about 80% of the time. Our summer was about the same. Rain.
Rain and more rain.
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- There was no fall either. It suddenly got very cold and
rained. And it's still raining. As for snow, we now have about an inch
on the ground, with more snow expected in about one week. Flurries on Saturday
and a snow fall of significance on Sunday. That would be the 6th and 7th
of December, 2003.
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- Beginning on December 23, 2002, our location had it's
first major blizzard. This was followed by bitter cold weather and snow
at least once each week, with each snowfall contributing significant amounts.
The total number of major snow storms last winter was seven. Our lucky
number.
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- I love North of Westchester County, in the high hills
overlooking the watershed areas for New York City. I am at an altitude
of about 1100 feet. For this part of the country, that's a mountain.
-
- I did not see any stats in this piece about New York.
Not a one. And Batavia, NY doesn't count. It's not nearby.
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- To this writer, it seems that the East coast was not
mentioned because it did not fit the stats presented. But when you are
loading up the wood stove, firing up the generator and looking for sun
to power your home ... one would like to see Oak Ridge fess up. And whilst
they are at it, let's hear something about all those chemicals dropping
like flies in a flit storm, from the tankers spraying us with Lord knows
what.
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- Jim Mortellaro
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