The winter of 22-23 was the 4th warmest (as in average temperature over the three months) on record in Concord, says the Northeast Climate Center at Cornell University. Worcester, Mass,. had its warmest winter ever.
Surprisingly, the snowfall at Concord (the official National Weather Service site for New Hampshire) was exactly average this winter. So why did it feel like we didn’t have much snow? Perhaps because of all those warm spells.
The traditional winter in which NH has snow on the ground continuously from New Years to Town Meeting (early March) is long gone. The Climate Center said Concord Municipal airport had 1 inch or more of snow on the ground for 73 days during the 22-23 winter, while the average since the 1990/91 season is 88 days. That’s an extra two weeks of little-or-no-snow over the course of the winter. Ugh.
It feels to me like our winters have become “donuts” – a big snowfall before Christmas, then a lot of warmth and rain and brown ground, then a big snowfall or two in March. Snow at the periphery with a hole in the middle.
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