As summer becomes a thing of the past and as winter creeps up rather quickly, everyone is kind of getting in the mood for the first snowfall. Even if you are one to hate winter, the first snowfall is always the best; especially here in New England! There has also been much anticipation about what kind of winter weather we should be expecting in the Northeast due to how it is still warm out. With that being said, here’s the 2013-2014 Winter Almanac brought to you by Her Campus Bryant.
A few things from the past
Before we jump into anything about the future, we want to go over what our winters have been like in the past. Here are the average annual total snowfalls for several cities in New England over the past 30-70 years (depending on which city) in inches:
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Hartford, CT – 49
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Boston, MA – 42.2
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Providence, RI – 35.5
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Burlington, VT – 78.8
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Mt Washington, NH – 260.6
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Portland, ME – 70.6
Most of the strongest storms have occurred between January and March, but a White Christmas is not completely inevitable! If you are lucky enough to live in Yellowknife, Canada, the probability of having a White Christmas is 100%. However, here in the US, the best place to ensure a White Christmas is Fairbanks, Alaska. As for New England, depending on the state, you have about a 20-48% chance of having a White Christmas each year. Let’s reminisce on some of the strongest snow storms to hit home:
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Winter Storm Nemo – February 8-9, 2013 – 40 inches recorded in Hamden, CT
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Blizzard of ’78 – February 7-8, 1978 – 27.1 inches in Boston, MA
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Children’s Storm of 1888 – January – 50 inches recorded in Middletown, CT and 40 foot snow drifts recorded elsewhere
What the future holds
If you are unfamiliar about some of the craziness that occurred in the past here in New England, reach out to your grandparents and parents who are probably filled with hilarious stories of “walking to school in the snow.” Anyway, on to the good stuff. What does the future hold?
Let’s just put it this way, the Farmer’s Almanac is predicting a NASTY winter-WAHOO! Rumor has it, “New England, New York and most of Pennsylvania will experience a bitterly cold and snow-filled season…the almanac is red-flagging the first 10 days of February for possible heavy winter weather. That will hit Super Bowl XLVIII hard on Feb, 2. The game, to be played at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, will be played outdoors — something not normally done for the big event. We are forecasting stormy weather for this, the biggest of sporting venues…But even if we are off by a day or two with the timing of copious wind, rain, and snow, we wish to stress that this particular part of the winter season will be particularly volatile and especially turbulent. The almanac is also predicting a mid-March wave of storminess stretching from coast to coast, bringing a wide variety of precipitation types as well as strong and gusty winds.” – Mother Nature Network
We are wondering when the first snow fall will eventually fall. Friends mentioned they saw snow in Boston last week (flurries of course), but we want a snow day! When do you think the first snowfall will happen? Vote in our poll (Grace-hyperlink the poll that is published right now)!