Environmentgreen Climate Changewinter trends

U.S. Temperature Trends Show That Winters Are Warming

Interactive Graph Reveals State-By-State Warming Trends
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From Climate Central:

Report Summary:
While the U.S. as a whole has seen a warming trend that has raised annual average temperatures by 1.3°F over the past 100 years, warming varies seasonally, and it’s winter that has seen the fastest warming.

An analysis of data from the U.S. Historical Climatology Network of weather stations shows that the coldest states are warming the fastest, and across the country winter warming since 1970 has been more than fourand-a-half times faster per decade than over the past 100 years. Winter nights across the country have warmed about 30 percent faster than nights over the whole year. Some states cooled or failed to join the warming trend over the past 100 years, but since 1970, every state has shown winter-warming.

To better understand winter warming patterns we analyzed average-daily temperatures and overnight-low temperatures for December through February for the continental 48 states from 1912-2012 and 1970-2012.

Rates of warming (°F per decade) for average winter (Dec.-Feb.), 1970-2012.

We found:
  • Since 1970, winters in the top 5 fastest-warming states — Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Vermont and South Dakota — heated up four-and-a-half times faster than winters in the 5 slowest-warming states: Nevada, California, Oregon, Colorado, and Washington.

  • Winter warming accelerated almost everywhere since 1970, and all states have warmed since that time. Nationwide since 1970, winters warmed more than four-and-a-half times faster per decade than over the past 100 years.

  • In contrast, over the past century, winters in 13 states — 10 in the South — bucked the warming trend and either cooled significantly or exhibited a non-significant slight cooling trend.

  • Winter nights have warmed in all but one of the lower 48 states since 1970. Across the continent, winter nighttime temperatures have warmed about 30 percent faster than nighttime temperatures over the entire year. Since 1970, overnight winter temperatures in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Vermont have warmed faster than 1.29°F per decade, or more than 5°F in just 43 years.

  • Since 1912, states with average winter temperatures below 32°F warmed three times faster than states with average temperatures above 32°F. Since 1970, winter warming has accelerated almost everywhere and states that previously cooled began to warm in winter. Yet, the coldest states (below 32°F) have still warmed nearly twice as fast as the rest of the country on average. And during that time, winter nights in the coldest states warmed up to five times faster than those in warm states.

  • The pattern of winter warming is different than the pattern of warming throughout the whole year, which was illustrated in Climate Central’s June 2012 analysis of annual temperatures, The Heat is On. Some of the fastest-warming states overall, such as Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado, have had some of the slowest-warming winters, both since 1970 and over the past 100 years.

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    Before You Go

    Winter Weather
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    Snow covered berries stand out against a background in a park in the Belarus capital Minsk, on December 10, 2012. Snow fell today across Minsk as the temperatures dropped to -5 C (23 F). VIKTOR DRACHEV/AFP/Getty Images (credit:Getty Images)
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    Tourists climb the Great Wall after a snow in Luanping, in northern China's Hebei province, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan) (credit:AP)
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    Icicles cling to oranges in a small grove just after sunrise Wednesday Jan. 4, 2012, in Seffner, Fla. Temperatures in central Florida dipped into the 20's overnight. Farmers spray water on their crops to help keep them around 32 degrees, protecting them from possible freeze damage. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) (credit:AP)
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    Icicles hang from an avacado as a farmer uses water in an effort to keep the fruit from being damaged by freezing temperatures on December 15, 2010 in Homestead, Florida. South Florida is enduring a weather system that pushed the temperature into the 30s Fahrenheit. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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    Japanese macaque, commonly referred to as 'snow monkeys', take an open-air hot spring bath, or 'onsen' at the Jigokudani (Hell's Valley) Monkey Park in the town of Yamanouchi, Nagano prefecture on December 10, 2012. Some 160 of the monkeys inhabit the area and are a popular tourist draw. KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty Images (credit:Getty Images)
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    Icicles hang from a bush as a farmer uses water in an effort to keep his crops from being damaged by freezing temperatures on December 15, 2010 in Homestead, Florida. South Florida is enduring a weather system that pushed the temperature into the 30s Fahrenheit. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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    Icicles hang from a jetty that juts out into Lake Michigan just south of the Shoop Park Golf Course in Racine, Wis. on Friday, February 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Journal Times, Scott Anderson) (credit:AP)
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    This general view from the Confucius Temple in Jingshan Park shows snowfall in Beijing early on December 14, 2012. Overnight snowfall continued with workers mobilised to clear roads and walkways as the weather threatened to top a record set last month for rainfall in the city over a 24-hour period between November and March. Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images (credit:Getty Images)
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    A man walks through a frozen fountain during a snowfall in Milan, Italy, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno) (credit:AP)
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