Ah yes, it’s finally that time of year again. The time of year when the temperature drops at night and the grass freezes over. When specks of snow start to flutter through the air and encapsulate our world in white. Snow is essential in most people’s minds of depicting holidays, climate, and most importantly: winter. In recent years, our beloved snow has hit a decline. But what does it mean if the forecasted snow continues to turn into rain? Is it because of climate change? Will this change winter? And what does this mean for snow days?
Recently, our so-called “time of year,” more formally known as the winter months (December, January, and February), have had some fine-tuning.
Recent Snow Patterns
Climate experts have tracked snowfall patterns and hold the data in comparison with measurements in the mid-20th century to now. In general, snow outside of the three main winter months has almost completely disappeared. The Climate Cental was able to conclude there was “increased snow in North Central regions, and decreasing snow in southern regions.”
But that’s not to disprove personal recollection of snow in recent years. From the mid-20th century to now, nearly 80% of states have experienced a decrease across the U.S. of annual snow collected.
Climate Change?
Trends of rising sea levels and high pollution have showed that our planet is–without a doubt– warming up. Continuous burning of fossil fuels are routinely emitting heat into the atmosphere. With hot air streaming up and nowhere to escape to, the heat settles in our ecosphere. The scary truth about this newfound heat is the impact it will expose on all of the seasons.
The climate has heated up all over the world, including the poles. The melting of polar ice caps has caused sea levels to rise. Along with the rising sea levels, the average temperature of the waters have now begun to warm up significantly. Temperatures of the water actually fluctuate the weather more than one may realize. Higher sea levels adds moisture to the air and increases precipitation. Relating back to snow, increased precipitation from the oceans mixed with temperature in a contained area affects the general snowfall. But sure enough, there is a term for this. “El Niño” is a process detailing of high temperatures in the Pacific Ocean that result in “low precipitation in the North” but “high precipitation in the South”.
But, “El Niño” may not be as bad as you think. In a winter with “El Niño,” higher levels of snow are expected in certain regions as the air with moisture combines with the cooling temperatures.
What does this mean for NJ? Well, different forecasters chart patterns of “El Niño” differently, but NJ can definitely expect to be hit with some of these streams. Southern NJ should expect to see effects of “El Niño” this winter. Meanwhile, the North still seems to be subject for more change. The outlook below, leans to believe that Northern NJ will have increased snow percentages raised only by “30-40%.”
Winter Feeling
Winter has always been easily identifiable in movies, all with the simple incorporation of snow. In a holiday movie you can tell the time of year by the snow on the ground. Or a winter movie typically basing a plot point on the heavy amounts of snow. But what if one year snow doesnt come?
If snow patterns were to continue (taking into account that El Niño winters aren’t very common), then snow would gradually disappear from winter. The morale that winter movies radiate, may lose views or popularity. Streaming platforms may even have to release new movies depicting a new winter (whatever that may look like). The world would totally change if winters stopped snowing. “Snow” would become a foreign concept to future generations.
For now, we can enjoy the expected snowy winter reflected with El Niño. With faulty predictions, it’s hard to know exactly what winter will look like in the future. Snow days can be expected to continue, but probably will come more leniently (snow “storms” that would hardly be considered dustings ten years ago).
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