Winter is the fastest-warming season for most of the U.S. — affecting snowfall, water supplies, winter sports, spring allergies, summer fruits, and more. In our warming world, the coldest days aren’t as cold and cold snaps are shrinking.
From 1970 to 2025, winters have warmed in 98% of 244 U.S. cities analyzed — by 3.9°F on average. Most cities (88%) now experience at least seven more warmer-than-normal winter days than they did in the early 1970s. Locations across the Northeast and the Great Lakes region have seen some of the highest rates of winter warming:
I’m an American, and I read that in Celsius at first. Because the climate science is reported in Celsius.
Im as shocked as you are.
Once when I was like maybe 4 years old, it snowed where I used to live in the central valley of California. I specifically remember going out into our yard with my mom and brother and trying to build a tiny snowman with the couple inches we actually got.
When I moved to Missouri at 9, we had a couple really bad snowstorms, one that uprooted a big tree in our backyard at the time. Ever since then the winters have gotten less and less snow, with the last time it snowed on Christmas/December being like more than 6 or 7 years ago. Since then we’ve gotten a couple “freak” snows that happen toward the end of February. Once in the past 10 years, it snowed in like April.
Oh yeah. I have spent my whole life in a cold area. Went about 5 hours south for college which I started in 1990. This had a weird effect because it got me used to slightly milder winters which continued when I went back to my home city. So it took a bit into the aughts to think about it and realize how different the weather I experienced in the 80’s is from what I experienced in the aughts and its continued to get milder. We still can get the cold weather but the worst of it are not yearly events anymore. Then also when we do get something bad it reverses itself in a few days. So like yeah we can have a cold snap or lots of snow but both will be gone in again days. Rarely over a week. Growing up its like winter set in and then it was going to be cold with snow on the ground till at earliest late febuary but usually march and sometimes april. I mean it would be kinda awesome locally if not for the grave global implications.
In east Texas, near the gulf, it used to snow enough to cover the ground for more than a day, or have frozen rain that made the ground icy, at least once a year. I think the last good storm like that was many years ago
Oh yeah? Well if that’s true how come I’m cold right now? Checkmate, atheists!
The mid east has had a couple decent snow events the last 40 years that I can remember.
That said it was ~1993 when a crazy snow ice blizzard hit and it seemed like the last dying gasp of the snowy winter of “back in the day”
Like the snow fucked off since there were no more chestnuts to roast on an open fire.
Yeah, I remember there being a massive blizzard around 1991-93 here in New England. Granted, I was a kid so it could be my memory taking liberties with the details but I remember not being able to see out my bedroom window because of the white out conditions and school being canceled for a couple of days.
It was around 1997 or so when something started feeling off about the seasons for me. Fall was becoming milder and the winters weren’t as wild as they used to be. It was when we started getting green Christmas’ when I was middle school that I first heard about climate change.
We have gotten some absolutely wild storms that exceed typical snowfalls but these days precipitation is rain.
We sure are good at terraforming, too bad that wasn’t our intention
It’s more in Europe, though I don’t have data. Just the last 10 years has had an incredible amount of +5-10C days, and eastern Atlantic/Arctic is warm in late fall.
