February 2025

[EastonSN+]

1 hour ago, Allsnow said:

It’s been a cold winter 

 

 

Yeah I'm extremely confused by posters saying that it's not really cold. The departures from average are very clear.

I wonder if we're plus two in the summer if the same posters are going to say it's not really warm.

[bluewave]

17 minutes ago, EastonSN+ said:

Yeah I'm extremely confused by posters saying that it's not really cold. The departures from average are very clear.

I wonder if we're plus two in the summer if the same posters are going to say it's not really warm.

I think that’s probably since you are younger and haven’t experienced what cold winters were like here. But I can understand it since you are comparing it to all the record warmth we have had in the winters over the last decade. But there was nothing particularly cold about this winter except for the much stronger winds driving those wind chills. 

[MJO812]

Too warm outside 

[Stormlover74]

42 already, should make it to 46

[weatherpruf]

3 hours ago, LibertyBell said:

January 1976 too?? Wow that wasn't even a cold winter.

It was if you were walking to the bus stop in leather dress shoes and thin socks because you had to wear a stupid uniform with thin polyester pants.....but at least we had snorkel jackets. 

[weatherpruf]

2 hours ago, bluewave said:

People like to make jokes about the Great Lakes. But the record warmth there has been greatly moderating our Arctic outbreaks in recent years. As was the case this winter combined with the record Canadian and Hudson Bay warmth. February 2016 and 2023 were the two Arctic outbreaks which reached 0° or colder east of the Hudson and required Northerly flow down from Canada going east of the Great Lakes instead of crossing the warmer waters. In the old days we could get to near 0° with westerly flow across the more frozen Great Lakes when Canada was much colder. 

I highly recommend the documentary The Fish Thief, which delves into the history of the Great Lakes and its once impressive commercial fisheries; narrated by Oscar winner JK Simmons and featuring the best scholars of the era, as one of them points out, you cannot look at one of them and think it's just a lake.

[MorristownWx]

Gorgeous day! 40, heading up to 45 with a shot at 50 for the next four days. It’s honestly nice to not have to worry about any more ice accumulation. Enjoy your Sunday! 

[Sampson]

3 hours ago, Allsnow said:

It’s been a cold winter 

 

 

Yup. Coldest in a decade. Not sure why anyone would be comparing current averages to the 70s and 80s and 90s. We are dealing with a new baseline now and this was a cold one all things considered. 

[donsutherland1]

For perspective (noting all the comments about Winter 2024-2025's outcome), NYC will very likely finish with a seasonal mean temperature of between 34.4° and 34.8°. Here's how the winter would rank against recent winters, all winters, and the three most recent seasonal baselines.

 

[Dark Star]

3 hours ago, bluewave said:

People like to make jokes about the Great Lakes. But the record warmth there has been greatly moderating our Arctic outbreaks in recent years. As was the case this winter combined with the record Canadian and Hudson Bay warmth. February 2016 and 2023 were the two Arctic outbreaks which reached 0° or colder east of the Hudson and required Northerly flow down from Canada going east of the Great Lakes instead of crossing the warmer waters. In the old days we could get to near 0° with westerly flow across the more frozen Great Lakes when Canada was much colder. 

It's a good theory, but show me the proof.  There are many factors, including the general lack of cold(er) air.  I'm probably most resistant due to someone blaming the Great Lakes on our night time temperatures, despite the high winds reducing the radiational cooling during that period.  The effect of the Great Lakes on night time temperatures in NYC cannot be greater than 0.5 F degrees, if that.  But since there are no calculations, it is only speculation...

[EastonSN+]

1 hour ago, bluewave said:

I think that’s probably since you are younger and haven’t experienced what cold winters were like here. But I can understand it since you are comparing it to all the record warmth we have had in the winters over the last decade. But there was nothing particularly cold about this winter except for the much stronger winds driving those wind chills. 

I lived through the '80s and 90s. It's a different time now and it's cold for this 30-year period.

Why do we care if it was colder in the past when determining if it's cold now?

 

[Birds~69]

1 hour ago, EastonSN+ said:

Yeah I'm extremely confused by posters saying that it's not really cold. The departures from average are very clear.

I wonder if we're plus two in the summer if the same posters are going to say it's not really warm. 

Average Summers are too warm/hot. A +2 would be scorching...

[psv88]

14 minutes ago, donsutherland1 said:

For perspective (noting all the comments about Winter 2024-2025's outcome), NYC will very likely finish with a seasonal mean temperature of between 34.4° and 34.8°. Here's how the winter would rank against recent winters, all winters, and the three most recent seasonal baselines.

 

So for people who are older this was an average winter, for younger people it was a cold winter. 

[bluewave]

6 hours ago, Dark Star said:

It's a good theory, but show me the proof.  There are many factors, including the general lack of cold(er) air.  I'm probably most resistant due to someone blaming the Great Lakes on our night time temperatures, despite the high winds reducing the radiational cooling during that period.  The effect of the Great Lakes on night time temperatures in NYC cannot be greater than 0.5 F degrees, if that.  But since there are no calculations, it is only speculation...

When the overall climate was much colder along with the Great Lakes,  NYC and other sites near the coast would regularly drop close to 0° with westerly flow Arctic outbreaks crossing the Great Lakes. This was a usual occurrence between 1976 and 1994. This winter experienced some of the strongest westerly flow crossing the Great Lakes since that much colder era. So we can say all of the warming factors combined added around 10° degrees and not just 0.5° degrees on the coldest days this winter. Since the coldest temperature this winter in NYC only fell to 10°. 

[Sampson]

3 minutes ago, psv88 said:

So for people who are older this was an average winter, for younger people it was a cold winter. 

actually the mean temperature this year was colder than all 3 baselines Don showed. 

 

[forkyfork]

21 minutes ago, Sampson said:

actually the mean temperature this year was colder than all 3 baselines Don showed. 

 

by under a degree for the first two

[Allsnow]

1 hour ago, Sampson said:

Yup. Coldest in a decade. Not sure why anyone would be comparing current averages to the 70s and 80s and 90s. We are dealing with a new baseline now and this was a cold one all things considered. 

Yeah, idc what happened during the 70’s and LI mini ice age. Such bizarre takes by the mjo phase 6 torch winter crew. The Great Lakes argument is so silly 

[forkyfork]

we lived through months like january 2004. this was an average winter with below normal snow

[forkyfork]

2 minutes ago, Allsnow said:

Yeah, idc what happened during the 70’s and LI mini ice age. Such bizarre takes by the mjo phase 6 torch winter crew. The Great Lakes argument is so silly 

even without phase 5 the pac killed our snowstorms

[Dark Star]

38 minutes ago, bluewave said:

When the overall climate was much colder along with the Great Lakes,  NYC and other sites near the coast would regularly drop close to 0° with westerly flow Arctic outbreaks crossing the Great Lakes. This was a usual occurrence between 1976 and 1994. But hasn’t happened since. This winter experienced some of the strongest westerly flow crossing the Great Lakes since that much colder era. So we can say all of the warming factors combined added around 10° degrees and not just 0.5° degrees on the coldest days this winter. Since the coldest temperature this winter in NYC only fell to 10°. 

Nice try, but no.  What about heat loss due to evaporative cooling over the waters?

[SACRUS]

Dry theme next 5  - 7 days

 

[NorthShoreWx]

45 minutes ago, Sampson said:

actually the mean temperature this year was colder than all 3 baselines Don showed. 

 

Only 39% of the winters in Don's stats were warmer than this one (61% were colder than this "cold" winter).

There seems to be an argument in some posts about where to place the threshold for whining about cold weather.  Whining is unhealthy.

[bluewave]

Also remember that the other stations don’t have all the dense tree growth covering their sensors. This is why NYC had the coldest departures relative to the other stations using the current 1991-2020 warmest climate normals. Other local sites that have open exposure matching the regulations had even smaller cold departures. So when compared to 1951-1980, 1961-1990, and 1971-2000 would be even warmer. 

 

EWR….-0.9°

NYC…..-2.0°

LGA…...-1.8°

JFK……+0.7°

HPN…..-1.4°

ISP……..-1.0°
 

 

[Rjay]

3 minutes ago, NorthShoreWx said:

Only 39% of the winters in Don's stats were warmer than this one (61% were colder than this "cold" winter).

 

Quite a stat

[Rjay]

4 minutes ago, NorthShoreWx said:

Only 39% of the winters in Don's stats were warmer than this one (61% were colder than this "cold" winter).

There seems to be an argument in some posts about where to place the threshold for whining about cold weather.  Whining is unhealthy.

The argument seems to be "let's just forget about the past".

[NorthShoreWx]

Just now, Rjay said:

The argument seems to be "let's just forget about the past".

It's a head in the sand approach.

[NorthShoreWx]

2 minutes ago, Rjay said:

Quite a stat

There's lies, damned lies, and statistics 

[forkyfork]

2 minutes ago, Rjay said:

The argument seems to be "let's just forget about the past".

unless there's a heat wave

[LibertyBell]

1 hour ago, donsutherland1 said:

For perspective (noting all the comments about Winter 2024-2025's outcome), NYC will very likely finish with a seasonal mean temperature of between 34.4° and 34.8°. Here's how the winter would rank against recent winters, all winters, and the three most recent seasonal baselines.

 

I like the 9th coldest the best, it puts it in the middle third of winters for cold.

I have a few requirements for a truly cold winter.  Below zero is nice but at the very least there need to be at least 5 days in the single digits.  This season had zilch, nada, nil, zippo.

[psv88]

1 hour ago, Sampson said:

actually the mean temperature this year was colder than all 3 baselines Don showed. 

 

Look at those stats one more time. This winter falls on the warmer side of overall records and within a degree of winters in the 70s. It’s an average winter, but a colder winter compared to the last decade.