Parts of Connecticut on track to record lowest snowfall total in state’s history
Barring a late-season reversal of fortunes, or at least several inches of snow, much of southern Connecticut is on track to close winter with little more than a flurry to show for it.
Less than an inch of snow has fallen in the Bridgeport area since the start of winter in December, the lowest amount tallied in any single winter season dating to 1949, according to the National Weather Service.
It’s a similar story throughout much of the tri-state area, where long-running weather posts such as New York’s Central Park and New Jersey’s Newark Airport have observed the lowest snowfall totals in nearly a century or more of record keeping.
The startling lack of snow — the subject of headlines from New Hampshire to Washington, D.C. — comes as much of the Northeast experiences one of its warmest years on record, with average mean temperatures in Hartford and Bridgeport staying above freezing throughout the season, according to data from the National Weather Service.
When cold snaps have hit, they’ve tended to come on dry, clear days, exacerbating the lack of snowfall, meteorologists say.
“We’re actually seeing quite a bit of moisture… it’s just not collaborating at the right time or coming through at the right time,” said Gary Lessor, a meteorologist at the Western Connecticut State University Weather Center in Danbury.
Other parts of Connecticut have seen exceptional — and record-breaking — weather this winter.
The 9.1 inches of snow that fell on Hartford as of Feb. 22 was the fifth-lowest amount of any year on record. The average mean temperature of 35.4 degrees in the capital city, meanwhile, would set an all-time record if it holds through the end of the month.
According to a 2021 report
published in the scientific journal Climate, temperatures in New England are rising faster than in the rest of the world as a result of climate change, posing a threat to the region’s distinctive seasonal climate and wintertime activities such as skiing and snowboarding.
Balmier temperatures compared to other parts of New England, however, have long forced Connecticut’s ski areas to increase their reliance on artificially snowmaking, or risk having to close trails for part of the season, said Brian McCloskey, guest services and marketing manager at Mohawk Mountain in Cornwall.
But with the unseasonably warm weather and lack of snowfall everywhere but the uppermost reaches of Maine, McCloskey said that Connecticut’s ski industry has fared well through the season, aided by pent-up demand for the outdoors during the pandemic.
“It’s not just down here that’s getting warmer, it’s up [north] as well,” McCloskey said. “This was a good year to showcase that.”
While ski areas can employ state-of-the-art machines to cover trails with a thick snowpack, doing so requires additional labor as well as costly electric and water resources, both of which are even higher this year due to inflation, operators say.
“We would love for it to just fall out of the sky, but that hasn’t happened yet,” said Ulla Jacobs, the marketing director at Ski Sundown in New Hartford.
Jacobs said when snow is as persistently absent as it has been this year, customers simply stop thinking about going skiing, even if the trails remain open. “A lot of it is the mentality of thinking it’s already spring and having already moved on,” she said.
Despite the known effects of a warming climate, meteorologists say it’s difficult to say whether any single seasonal disruption is a harbinger of weather to come.
“Whether this is a trend or just one of those off years I couldn’t really tell you,” said Glenn Field, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service office in Norton, Mass. In 2011 and 2014, he said, the Bridgeport area saw some of its snowiest years on record, before falling off in subsequent years.
“Each time there was a spike up, there was a spike down,” Field said.
As for the economic effects of this winter’s unusual weather — particularly on ski resorts and other seasonal industries — the state’s Department of Economic Community Development has not collected any data on the the lack of snow, according to spokesman Jim Watson.
The next likely chance for snow, according to Field, could come on Tuesday, coincidentally the last day in the weather services’ typical tracking period for winter snowfall totals.