New York hasn’t had such a snowless winter since 1973: ‘There is a local weather drawback right here’


It is winter, so the place’s the white stuff? It does not cowl the bottom in New York.

For the reason that begin of winter in December, there was no measurable snowfall within the metropolis, which suggests no less than a tenth of an inch has accrued on the bottom, in accordance with the Nationwide Climate Service.

Reaching January 30 with out seeing greater than a hint of snowflakes set a brand new file – the final time it took this lengthy for snow to linger on the bottom in winter was in 1973, when New Yorkers needed to wait till January 29. Round this time final yr, a heavy snowstorm dumped a number of centimeters of snow within the metropolis.

There was a whole lot of precipitation this yr, mentioned James Tomasini, an NWS meteorologist, nevertheless it has been within the type of rain as a result of it hasn’t been chilly sufficient to snow.

“Storm traces and chilly air remained north and west of the realm,” he mentioned.

New York Metropolis can be anticipated to interrupt a second file, that of the longest interval with out snow. It at the moment stands at 327 days and should surpass the 332 days marked in December 2020 to set a brand new file, Tomasini mentioned.

He mentioned it appeared probably town would get to that time, with no indicators of heavy snowfall within the short-term forecast for the week.

When taking a look at snowfall totals and temperature information for the area over time, “we’re beginning to see during the last 20 years a gradual warming that tells us there is a local weather drawback right here. “mentioned New York State climatologist Mark Wysocki.

He mentioned that on the checklist of the ten lowest snowfall totals measured in Central Park, 5 of them have been within the 2000s, as have been 4 of the warmest winter temperatures.

However a snowless December and January supply no assure for February, which historically has the best potential for heavy snowfall, he identified.

“We may make up for the dearth of snow we’ve got proper now with only one or two large blizzards,” he mentioned.

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