Weather
By Dan Skeldon
Welcome to spring, well, in a meteorologist’s world anyway. A weatherperson defines winter to be the months of December, January, and February, although the calendar says we have to officially wait until Monday, March 20th this year, specifically at 5:24pm.
That means we made it through a hard, grueling, and unrelenting winter. Not for most of us, who are probably hoping for more winters as easy as the current one down the road. But for the South Jersey snow lover, the #winterthatwasnt or our #sprin-ter (combination of spring and winter) was a long and depressing one.
Let’s first talk temperatures: This winter was a Top 5 warmest on record, officially landing as the 4th warmest on record in the last 80 years or so. Keep in mind that all of the top 5 warmest winters have happened in the last 12 years. This winter comes in as the 4th warmest on record, less than a degree out of the top spot. Minus a bitter cold blast of bona fide arctic air around and just before Christmas and a slightly less intense shot of cold to start the month of February, warmth was king this winter.
It may not be Florida, but snowbirds who couldn’t make the trip down south this year probably weren’t complaining! There were upwards of 10 days, at least on the mainland, where high temperatures surged past 60 degrees, including a rare 70-degree day in January. There were another 36 days with highs of at least 50 degrees. Considering there’s only 88 days in meteorological winter from December 1st to February 28, that means that more than half of our days were spent in the 50s and 60s.
Of course, cold air is one of the prerequisites in order to get snow. So with cold air lacking, it’s not really a surprise that the snow followed suit. As of now, the official snowfall total for the 2022-23 season stands at a meager 0.3” of snow. There were just two days, both in February, with measurable snow, but barely measurable. February 1st saw 0.2 inches of snow at the Atlantic City International Airport, and then February 25th saw a dusting of 0.1 inches.
Add the two staggering numbers together and it adds up to the least snowy winter season on record in South Jersey, at least so far. The winter of 1972-73 is the current record holder, with just 0.4 inches for the season, with the more recent winter of 2019-2020.just a tenth of an inch behind as the second least snowy winter season with 0.5 inches.
So why “so far”? After all, meteorological winter ended when we turned the calendar to March. Yes, that’s true, but snow stats are somewhat unique, as a snow “season” runs from July 1st to June 30th each year. That means that any snow that falls before June 30th is counted in this winter’s numbers.
Of course, we can rule out measurable snow in May and June. And typically (but always) most Aprils as well. On the other hand, March is a fickle beast weather-wise. We can soak up 80-degree warmth, or deal with a blizzard. Sometimes we get both, and only days apart. March madness doesn’t always apply to college basketball, as there is often meteorological March madness this time of year. So we can’t lay claim to the least snowy winter “season” claim until we wade through whatever the upcoming month has in store.
Just look at March of 2014, when we had not one, not two, but three sizable spring-time snowfalls, including on St. Patrick’s Day. Then in March 2018, we had a half foot of snow on the first day of spring. There have indeed been winters when March turns out to be the snowiest month of them all. On the plus side, on those occasions when March turns white, the snow usually doesn’t last, given the increasing sun angle and increasingly mild temperatures as winter turns to spring.
Sure enough, there are some signals that before March 2023 is done, a colder and stormier pattern may set up for a week or two, most likely around mid-month, as in the second and third weeks of the month. Now remember we had a “favorable” pattern for snow around the holidays in late December and all we got was a few days of bitter cold to shiver to. But it wouldn’t surprise me if we had to beware the Ides of March this year from a storm point of view, or let’s say from March 10 to March 20. Nor’easters have also been lacking this winter, and let’s say we’re due. That doesn’t mean I’m rooting for one though.
So welcome to meteorological spring, and let’s see what March has in store for us this year.
Meteorologist Dan Skeldon has a degree in meteorology from Cornell University. He has forecasted the weather in South Jersey for the last 18 years, first on the former television station NBC40 and then on Longport Media radio. Dan has earned the American Meteorological Society Seal of Approval for Broadcast Meteorologists, and now does television broadcasts on WFMZ-TV in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley.
