A USA TODAY analysis revealed that winters have shortened in every Pennsylvania county in the past seven decades, as below-freezing days are accounting for three or even four fewer weeks of each year in some places.
To explore the effect of climate change across the U.S., reporters gathered daily temperature data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and looked at how many freezing days are happening now compared with 1956. Information from 250 cities showed an average drop of 19 fewer freezing days each water year, which runs from September to October.
Their investigation found this drop-off is having environmental, economic, cultural and health impacts around the nation. Western states are grappling with droughts, increased wildfires and challenges to snow-based recreation. In eastern states, certain disease-carrying insects like ticks and mosquitos have prospered in the warming weather.
The number of freezing days has declined in all 67 Pennsylvania counties over the seven-decade period, falling by between 13 days and 33 days depending on the location, according to the analysis.
The counties that have experienced the most extreme changes:
- Delaware, Greene and Northampton counties, with 33 fewer freezing days
- Lehigh and York counties, with 32 fewer freezing days
- Berks, Lebanon, Luzerne and Schuylkill counties and Philadelphia, with 31 fewer freezing days
- Chester, Dauphin, Lycoming, Venango and Wyoming counties, with 30 fewer freezing days.
