Portland's winters grow longer, bucking U.S. trend
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Winters are getting shorter across most U.S. cities amid climate change, but not in Portland.
- That's per a new analysis based on temperatures rather than calendar dates from Climate Central, a climate research group.
Driving the news: Compared to the 1970-1997 period, winters are now shorter in 80% of the 245 U.S. cities analyzed in the report.
- Among those 195 cities, winter lasts for nine fewer days on average.
Yes, but: Portland has bucked the trend, with four more days of temperature-defined winter, per the analysis.
- And we're not the only ones: On the California coast, Eureka's winters are now 50 days longer, while those in Monterey are 46 days longer.
Context: Winter has shortened the most in Juneau (62 days) and Anchorage (49 days), "consistent with exceptionally rapid warming in Alaska and other high-latitude locations," per the report.
- Among continental U.S. cities, Miami's winters have shortened the most (38 days).
How it works: Climate Central defined "winter" as the coldest 90 days of the year in a row during the 1970-1997 period, then compared the frequency of those temperatures during the 1998-2025 period.
- That temperature-based approach is different from the way seasons are traditionally defined by calendar dates.
The big picture: The report comes as millions of Americans in other parts of the country are enduring a frigid, icy winter.
- Meanwhile, those of us in the West are staring down a snow drought that has hampered winter recreation and could have big implications for summer wildfires and water supplies.