US NE didn't get much SNOW

 

Very little snow has fallen in the northeastern states of the United States.  That little factoid has been buried  (sorry) by the blizzard (sorry) of news covering the immense amount of snow that fell in parts of the West.

But it should be newsworthy, too.  Because it affects a lot of things;  the growing schedule, seeds sprouting, flowers blooming, water resources, winter recreation, fish spawning, frogs laying eggs, etc.

Inside a historically snowless winter in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast

"While weather stations are fewer as one gets away from city centers, the Allegheny Mountains saw the largest snowfall deficits in the eastern United States. According to National Weather Service data, the broad swath of the mountains of West Virginia and Pennsylvania saw 50 to 100 inches less snow than average.

Elkins, W.Va., was among the mountainous areas that saw historically low snowfall totals. At an elevation of about 2,000 feet, the city had its least snow on record, with just 15.3 inches (the previous record low was 20.9 inches in 1958-1959) compared with an average of 69.6 inches. Elkins has seen seven winters with 100 or more inches of snow since 1900."

You should read the article, because this doesn't have a direct connection to climate change. It's a big swing in natural climate variability.  But climate change can make things more energetic, which can affect weather patterns like this, and so in a broader sense it could be connected to climate change.  But to be sure there has to be a trend, and this was just one very unusual winter.  Both here where it didn't snow and elsewhere, where it snowed a lot.