Will We See Snow This Winter? Forecasters Explain PA 'Snow Drought'

PHILADELPHIA, PA — The snow drought throughout the greater Philadelphia region is reaching historic proportions, the latest instance of the unpredictable and volatile weather patterns that have become the norm in the age of climate change.

Philadelphia still has not seen a measurable amount — for meteorological research purposes, at least a tenth of an inch — of snow this entire winter. The record for the latest snowfall in the city is Feb. 3, 1995, just about two weeks away.

"Even the climate sites that got measurable snow haven't gotten much," the National Weather Service's Mt. Holly, New Jersey branch said. "We'll see if ACY/PHL/ILG can break a record."

On average, the first snowfall in the area comes at some point around early to mid-December.

While snow drought impacts mountainous areas that rely on significant snowpack each year even more harshly, there are impacts for Pennsylvania, too. Aside from the obvious tourism and winter recreation sectors in the northeastern part of the state that rely on more snow, other "ecosystems, reservoir levels, and water resource management" are all affected by snow levels, according to the NOAA's National Integrated Drought Information System.

Records for all local metropolitan areas are included below:

It's not just the greater Philadelphia region that is seeing a warm and dry winter thus far.

"New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., have all failed to pick up a mere 0.1 of an inch of snow or more (measurable snow) so far this winter with Boston barely on the board with 1.4 inches," AccuWeather said. "Through this point in the season, the departures from average totals range from about 3 inches in Washington, D.C., to over a foot in Boston."

The average temperature this January in Philadelphia is about 17 degrees above normal, according to weather officials.

AccuWeather, however, is optimistic there could be snow by early February. "As colder air expands with more staying power from Canada into the Central and Eastern states, storms may begin to track in such a way to allow opportunities for accumulating snow in the I-95 corridor of the Northeast and perhaps the interior Southeast," the outlet said.