From Los Angeles, California, to Caribou, Maine, – and places in-between – this has hardly been a typical winter. And it’s not over yet, with two weeks left until spring and an Arctic blast upcoming for certain areas.
In terms of snowfall, some places have been inundated and others have cruised through winter almost unscathed. Several midwestern cities already have received snowfall totals far above long-term normal for the season to date.
St. Louis has received 60.6 percent more snow than normal. Its total of 24.1 inches is greater than the last three years combined, and it’s the most snow for the snow season to date since 2013-14 (28.7 inches).
Minneapolis is at 62.4 inches with more to come and already the most since 2010-11 (76.6 inches) – which is 49.6 percent above normal (41.7 inches). And Chicago, with 41.3 inches, has already received 40 percent more snow than normal (29.5 inches) to date.
Estimated fuel usage for heating costs compared to the same period to date last heating season has dramatically risen in all three cities, according to an AccuWeather analysis. It’s 11.2 percent higher in St. Louis, 10.3 percent higher in Chicago and 9 percent higher in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
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For much of the East Coast, snowfall for the season to date is somewhat below the long-term averages. Boston, for example, has received less than half of its long-term normal snowfall (16.6 inches) and it’s the least amount to date since the 2011-12 snow season (9.2 inches). However, typically Boston gets significant snow in March and even sometimes April.
New York City’s seasonal snowfall to date of 18.5 inches also is its least since 2011-12 (7.4) and is 2.8 inches below its normal snowfall to date. In fact, New York City received more than three times as much snow just five years ago during the same span (57.4 inches).
Instead, for many East Coast cities, it’s been a rainy six months. Washington, D.C., has received almost three times as much precipitation from Sept. 1 through March 3 compared to 2017-18 (34.21 inches vs. 11.68) and Philadelphia has received almost twice as much (37.04 inches vs. 19.00).
The cold found its way west, though, as Los Angeles didn’t reach a high of 70 degrees once in February – for the first time in 132 years. The average high in L.A. this February was 61 degrees, significantly lower than its long-term normal of 68 in February.
So who has the white stuff? For extremes, it’s Caribou, Maine, and California’s Sierra Nevada region.
Here's a common view when looking out windows in Caribou, Maine, this winter. (Photo courtesy Twitter/NWS/Caribou)
Plowing and snowdrifts make this Caribou parking lot look like a mini stadium. (Photo courtesy Twitter/NWS/Caribou)
There were snowdrifts as high as 10 feet at the National Weather Service's Caribou, Maine, location. (Photo courtesy Twitter/NWS/Caribou)
Snowdrifts in Caribou surrounded buildings and made some roads unpassable. (Photo courtesy Twitter/NWS/Caribou)
In Caribou, the snow depth is at 43 inches, according to the National Weather Service, which is two-and-a-third times the normal of 18.5 inches. This depth of snow has been exceeded just five times previously: in 1998, 1990, 1977, 1969 and 1955.
And in Sierra Nevada, so slammed by snow that the Twitter hashtag #FebruBuried practically froze the internet, the snowpack is two-and-a-half times above average so far. Mammoth Mountain Ski Area received 207 inches of snow just in February – the third-most at the Sierra Nevada mountain in one month since 1969-70. As a result, the mountain’s slopes will remain open until July 4th.
That’s good news for California, coming off a dry 2018. “The snowpack impacts the reservoirs,” said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist and COO Evan Myers, “so the bigger the snowpack, the better.”
Especially if you want to spend the Fourth of July on the slopes.
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