TheClimateChanger

Will be interesting to see where the period 2021-2025 falls on the 5-year cumulative snow futility list. Currently, this is the second least snowy 5-year period on record, behind the 5-year period ending 12/31/2024 (2020-2024). BOS would need 16.1" of snow by the end of December to move out 2nd place for 5-year futility. On the plus, maybe we've turned the corner since 2021-2025 is guaranteed to be snowier than 2020-2024 even if no additional snow falls before the EOY.

October was 0.8F above normal at Pittsburgh.

Very impressive. Certainly keeping an eye on the Great Lakes, as water levels continue to descend, e.g. lowest October levels on Michigan-Huron since 2012. Won't break the record lows of January 2013 this winter, but still quite the fall from the record highs of 2019-20.

Wow, that 136.8F annual maximum!

What happens in November, the winter will remember. That’s a very old saying, often repeated by Big Joe Bastardi back in the day.

Incredible. What impact, if any, does this trend have on your thoughts for the upcoming winter?

I wish we had hurricane and tropical cyclone statistics from the last glacial maximum. It wouldn't surprise if there were years with few, if any, storms, at least in the North Atlantic. I just don't know how high the SSTs were for much of the region. Probably greatly suppressed where storms were capable of forming, how intense they could get, and also the length of the summer.

Certainly a far cry from the original "old-fashioned winter" of 1917-1918, as christened by Charles Franklin Brooks, the founder and first head of the American Meteorological Society, which saw upwards of 17.5" of snow in Wisconsin, 15" in West Virginia and two feet in the Black Hills in the month of October. Not sure how well this bodes for folks hoping for another "old-fashioned" winter this year. Winter of 1917–18 in the United States - Wikipedia For more on the winter of 1917-1918, see this fascinating NY Times article from February 20, 1977: The Winter of 1917–18 Was a Cold One... - The New York Times As an aside, I find it interesting that the temperatures in Trenton were still being taken on a downtown rooftop at least as recently as 1977. We didn't have the snowflake crybullies that we have today - oh, no, the ASOS is too close to the tarmac! Back in the day, they just took the temperature wherever they could, and I bet the readings were more relevant to the conditions where most people lived (i.e., in the cities). Of course, you'll never see any adjustments made for the elevated readings of the past resulting from such substandard exposure/siting.

Fascinating that the earliest snowfall in Columbia, South Carolina was November 9, 1913. That coincides with the White Hurricane of 1913, a fierce, fierce storm that brought FEET of snow and damaging, hurricane force winds to the Great Lakes, including a record-breaking 22 inches at Cleveland, Ohio. Columbia must have gotten some snowflakes mixed in as the southern end of the cold front was passing through. Great Lakes Storm of 1913 - Wikipedia

Good post. I realize this is in regard to the 2014-15 winter, but I think a lot of people here are just getting old and don't realize how old some of these winters are. We are as far removed from 2013-2014, as we were from the winter of 1981-1982 (which UPI reports left an indelible mark on weather history - see link at end) in the winter of 1993-1994. I don't know about you, but in 1993/94, I would've considered 1981/82 to be ancient history. But some of these people would have you believe it was just yesterday. Link: Winter 1982 rewrites weather history - UPI Archives

People might not believe it, but Mother Nature is never fooled. Way more foliage hanging around than usual, at least in my area.

With how hot it is these days, you would think natural gas would be free. Totally worthless.