BTV Winter Recap

Although it may not feel like it with the arctic front moving through tonight, today is the first day of meteorological spring, and with that, I'd like to take a look at the winter we had at Burlington International Airport (BTV) in South Burlington, VT. Meteorological winter is defined as the period from December 1 to the end of February. 

Temperatures

The average maximum temperature this winter was 32.3 °F, while the average minimum was 18.4 °F and the mean average daily temperature was 25.4 °F.

(NOAA Regional Climate Centers/xmACIS)

In addition to nicely showing variability of the weather (we can clearly see some of the warmer and colder periods), we can clearly see that it was a hot winter. Two days, December 1 and 25, set temperature records for those days, and we never came close to setting a minimum temperature record. As a whole, the above image shows that few days were colder than normal, while many days were warmer than normal, with the blue bars extending into the "red zone" of above normal temperatures.

How do the temperatures this winter compare to other winters? With data extending back to the winter of 1884-1885, this winter was the 14th warmest on record at BTV, when we consider average temperature.

(NOAA Regional Climate Centers/xmACIS)

The above figure shows a clear warming trajectory in our winters at BTV.

Precipitation

This winter was drier than normal by 1.66 inches, largely due to the dry December that we had.

(NOAA Regional Climate Centers/xmACIS)

A more relevant metric for Vermont is accumulated snowfall, and this winter was just about normal.

(NOAA Regional Climate Centers/xmACIS)

In the above snowfall accumulation graph, we can see that winter started fairly slow at BTV snow-wise, but things really got going in January and February. In the end, BTV had 55.5 inches of snow, when the normal value is 54.4 inches.

If we only include data for January and February, the above plot looks quite different, as the January-February period this winter was about 10 inches snowier that normal (See below). So while January and February were fairly snowy, December saw little snowfall accumulation.

(NOAA Regional Climate Centers/xmACIS)

The following plot shows that winters at BTV are getting snowier. The regression line shown on the plot indicates that if trends were to follow, this winter would have seen 63.0 inches of snow. I find it interesting that in a warming climate, things are getting snowier.

(NOAA Regional Climate Centers/xmACIS)

As a whole, this winter was warmer than normal, but snowier than normal. Welcome to spring!