Is Climate Change Making This A Snowier Winter?

Support CleanTechnica’s work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe.

I was a bad friend the other day. As I was walking my local beach on a bright sunny day, I thought of my Connecticut pal who’ll be arriving here in Florida at the end of the month. I sent along a “Can’t way to see you” text with a picture of the shoreline’s long expanse — frothy waves splashing and native plantings standing guard on the foredune. She replied, “More snow expected today.” Shoot — New England and other northern regions have been experiencing a much snowier winter than usual. What was I thinking? And then a more important question loomed in the back of my mind.

Isn’t climate change the cause of the very snowy winter in the US Northeast?

February 2026 was a record-breaker for Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Blizzard conditions not witnessed since the Blizzard of ’78 dumped more than two to three feet across southern New England. (Many of us remember the Blizzard of ’78 as three days off from college classes and competitive beer-drinking to wile away the hours.) January 2026 had been a month in New England with lots of calls to snowplow drivers, adding to the overall turmoil of a much snowier winter than previous years.

People are confused. Isn’t New England supposed to be in the midst of winters that are producing much fewer snowstorms than those of our childhoods?

President Donald J. Trump fed into the confusion on social media with the implication that the snowier winter was proof of his position that global warming was a hoax. His is just one of many lies about climate that permeate the internet. The fact that our planet is warming has been proven in hundreds of different ways. Burning oil and gas, which are the deposits of ancient plants and animals, heats the planet and is destroying the unity of the Earth’s biosphere.

Is a snowier winter the result of a warming climate? The contradictory answer may surprise you.

A Primer in Snowier Winters and Climate Change

New England is among the fastest-warming regions in the world. NOAA Fisheries outlines how, in the Northeast US continental shelf ecosystem over the last two decades, ocean temperatures have warmed faster than the global ocean. In particular, the Gulf of Maine has warmed faster than 99% of the global ocean. Such warming is a driver of climate change and contributes to physical, chemical, and biological variability in the overall ecosystem.

Climate Central, a non-profit that provides research, maps, tools, and visualizations about climate threats, offers some really easy-to-understand information about the complex topic of how climate change affects snowfall likelihood.

• Warmer air holds more moisture, which can fall as snow when temperatures are below freezing. Think of the atmosphere as a big sponge that can hold lots of moisture.
• Winter is the fastest warming season for most of the US, resulting in less snow in most places.
• Of the 2,041 US locations that Climate Central surveyed, nearly two-thirds (64%) of locations now get less snow than they did in the early 1970s.
• However, another 731 locations (36%) have seen snowfall increase. That’s because the “sponge” atmosphere collides with cold Arctic air, which compresses into snow.

Climate change affects the timing, location, amount of snowfall, and spring snowmelt patterns. The warming atmosphere holds about 4% more moisture per 1°F of temperature rise. But where that moisture falls, and whether it’s more likely to fall as rain or snow, varies by region. Two basic conditions are needed to produce snow: freezing temperatures and moisture in the atmosphere.

Over the last half century, annual total snowfall has risen in Boston and many locations along the coast of New England. Sea surface temperature of the waters where the February storm picked up moisture was higher than average, allowing for more evaporation. Oceans off the Atlantic Coast are seeing mean sea-surface temperatures exceed 150 year old records over the northeast continental shelf. This winter the Gulf of Mexico temperature has been about 3 to 6 degrees F. above average — and it’s been the ninth snowiest on record for Boston.

Add stronger nor’easters to the additional contribution to coastal risk in a warming world. The most recent blizzard and storm, a Nor’easter that intensified off the Atlantic coast, struck the Northeast February 22 through February 24. A dozen deaths have been reported, including at least six attributed to shoveling snow. In Rhode Island, where more than 3 feet of snow fell in at least two locations, two people died, The Providence Journal reported. A 2025 study indicates that nor’easters are becoming stronger, with both the maximum wind speeds of the most intense (>66th percentile) nor’easters and hourly precipitation rates increasing since 1940.

The Takeaway about Global Warming and Colder Climate Conditions

With continued warming, the number of days below 32°F is expected to decline further in many regions over the coming decades. An earlier decrease in snow cover increases the amount of sunlight absorbed by Earth, and in turn, surface temperatures. The world is warming because of the burning of fossil fuels, but that can also mean that snowier winters in coastal areas can result. Continued patterns of winter snow may prove vital to the seasonal cycle, as how long the ground remains snow covered in spring affects the length of the growing season, the timing and amount of river runoff, permafrost thawing, wildlife, and fire risk.

Is an expanding global warming crisis inevitable? No, at least not if we reject burning fossil fuels.

A low-carbon scenario is achievable with advancements in renewable energy, electrified transport, reduced commuting, efficient building standards, sustainable food systems, and shared consumption. Further ambition, particularly in the nutrition sector through deeper decarbonization of agricultural practices and in personal transport, where investment in infrastructure and space reallocation, could shift the focus from mobility to accessibility.

And it’s not just the winter months about which we should be concerned. Creating more city parks, brimming with verdant plants and low-hung shade, can be one of the best ways to lower surface and air temperatures for times of extreme heat. Because many people in the world do not have air-conditioning, creating welcoming outdoor spaces make sense on many levels — social, environmental, health, and technological.

While fossil fuel subsidy reform can help reduce global GHG emissions and tackle climate change, it is only one tool in the carbon emissions reduction toolkit. It will take being able to count on incentives for clean energy programs as well as stringent penalties to reduce global warming.

In the meantime, hey, Debbie, I didn’t mean to rub how much snow you are shoveling this month while I survey beach conditions!

Resources

• “Blizzard fatality count rises to 2, hospitals report 263 ER visits.” Antonia Noori Farzan. Providence Journal. February 26, 2026.
• “Climate change in the Northeast US shelf ecosystem.” NOAA Fisheries. June 17, 2025.
• “Did climate change contribute to the record-setting New England blizzard?” Kate Selig. Boston Globe. March 1, 2026.
• “The intensification of the strongest nor’easters.” Kevin Chen, et al. PNAS. July 14, 2025.
• “Snowfall trends.” Climate Central. 2024.