Below average snow coverage

Reader comment on: The End of Snow

Submitted by Wayne Foote (United States), Feb 17, 2015 06:50

Venturing out in Maine confirms a lesser part of your premise - that snowfall in February 2015 is heavy in the Northeast, and temperatures are low. Memory and recent weather records, however, do not support the greater conclusion- that snowfall problems are not affecting ski areas. While New England's February snows and temperatures are ideal for skiing, ski areas must earn all of their operating expenses and a good piece of profit during the December and January vacations. In those months snow coverage was well below average in New England. Temperatures were well above average, melting much of the early season snow. See the coverage data at: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/snow/2014/12. Folks were playing golf over the December vacation in much of Maine. Similar snowfall problems affect ski areas in the drought stricken Cascades While December's warmth and lack of snow cover do not prove the climate is changing, February's cold and snows do not refute it. The fact that both periods are significant deviations from normal suggest something is happening to the climate.

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