The unusually mild temperatures across several regions of the country in the past few months are disrupting the natural cycles that define the winter landscape.
What began as elevated temperatures at the start of fall in parts of the United States have become “dramatically” warmer around the Great Lakes and New England, according to officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climatic Data Center.
That, in turn, has created conditions where plants are blooming earlier and some birds are lingering before moving south.
The pattern is most pronounced in eastern Montana, northeastern Minnesota and parts of North Dakota, where December temperatures so far have averaged 10 degrees above normal. But the mild weather extends to other Great Lakes states along with New England and the mid-Atlantic, with temperatures this month averaging between six and eight degrees above normal.
Just 19.6 percent of the continental United States is now covered in snow, according to the latest snow analysis by NOAA, compared with 50.3 percent this time last year.
Both scientists and those who question dire global warming predictions emphasize that one warm season should not be interpreted as a broader sign of climate change. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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