As the country enters the heart of winter and Groundhog Day on February 2 approaches, some communities are asking where the season is, with an absence of snow and temperatures that may make any snowman cringe.
Apart from the Arctic Outburst in December, overall temperatures were above normal and rainfall below normal for parts of the northeastern Ohio Valley and southern Rockies.
The flow of the weather pattern, which has kept large storms from penetrating abundant moisture, is partly answerable for the lack of frozen precipitation.
The Interstate 95 corridor is one of the regions where snow deficits add up quickly. Snowfall fell a couple of foot below average in Boston and half a foot below average in Recent York City.
The lack of rainfall has resulted in the temporary closure of some popular Recent England ski resorts as a result of minimal snow cover.
Communities along the U.S.-Canada border in the northern Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada are experiencing what snow lovers in the Northeast have been clamoring for – lots of frozen precipitation.
Cities equivalent to Minneapolis, Salt Lake City and Reno, Nevada receive above-average snowfall.
Weekly forecasts published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center show no change in the near future, with a unbroken warm period affecting the East.
“It isn’t just the north and northeast that is affected, but we’ll also see drier and warmer conditions over much of the country,” said FOX Weather meteorologist Craig Herrera.
The major exception to the eastern snow deficit is along some of the Great Lakes, where warmer air masses can actually result in heavier precipitation.
“We have had loads of lake effect events which were historic in parts of Buffalo and Southtowns. Buffalo is now 62 inches taller than usual for this time of 12 months. Burlington, about 12 inches and, of course, also Watertown much further away,” Herrera said.
An overall warmer and drier than average pattern across large parts of the East and South was forecast by NOAA ahead of the season.
The ice cover of the Great Lakes is also below normal
The warmth felt across the eastern United States has also led to an absence of ice on the Great Lakes.
In early January, Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario had only about 4 percent ice cover on average.
The latest 12 months often starts with double-digit coverage, which steadily climbs to around 44 percent at its peak in late February.
In accordance with a recent report, Lake Superior was the leader with the most ice and Lake Ontario had the least with only about one percent of total ice coverage.
The ice state of lakes has a big effect on how much snow communities around giant bodies of water see.
Experts say when lakes are mostly ice-free, it allows the air to choose up extra moisture and cause heavy snowfall, often on the east and south coasts.
Regions in Recent York City equivalent to Watertown and Buffalo have experienced this pattern since late fall with two historic events that temporarily paralyzed the region. Commercial 1 of 1Learn more
In November, greater than 80 inches of snow fell in western Recent York, causing 1000’s of power outages and the deaths of not less than 4 people. Only a month later, greater than three dozen people died as hurricane-force winds and feet of snow blanketed the region.
Historically, a pattern often known as lake-effect snow tends to shut as lakes freeze over and moisture available to air masses becomes harder to search out.