Report: Boston will see fewer white Christmases
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A snowbound Common. Photo: Allison Dinner/Bloomberg via Getty Images
White Christmases in eastern Massachusetts could soon become relegated to just a holiday carol.
The National Climate Assessment predicts that as global temperatures rise, the snowy season in the Northeastern U.S. will grow shorter, with less snow on the ground in early winter.
The big picture: Climate change is causing snowfall rates across most of the country to drop, according to Climate Central's analysis of data from 1970 to 2019.
- The experts expect the trend to continue, and the Northeast will see more rain than snow outside the dead of winter.
What they're saying: "The proportion of winter precipitation falling as rain has already increased and will likely continue to do so in response to a northward shift in the snow–rain transition zone," according to the report.
- Fewer days below freezing means more rain, less snow on the ground and an earlier snowmelt.
Perhaps that's why Suffolk County has only seen snow on Dec. 25 once in the last eight years.