Forbes and NBC News were among several media outlets that ran what turned out to be ill timed articles on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day claiming climate change threatened to end snow on Christmas. This is false. Despite repeated claims of the “end of snow,” made repeatedly by myriad mainstream media outlets in the past, data show snowfall amounts overall have remained relatively stable over the past few decades, with, if anything, snow falling earlier while declining late in the season with a slightly earlier arrival of spring. Overall snow trends are virtually unchanged, and white Christmases are as frequent or infrequent as they have been historically going back to the little ice age prior to the late 1800’s when, due to entirely natural factors, winters were more severe.
Forbes’ Christmas Day article, “Will Climate Change End the Dream of a White Christmas?” and NBC’s Christmas Eve story, “How climate change is making white Christmas a rare event,” were both misleading and particularly ill-timed. Misleading because snowfall and snowpack on or around Christmas is not becoming rare, and ill-timed because even as the stories were running, New York and Boston, among other areas on the Eastern Seaboard were experiencing their first White Christmases in years, with more than one inch and four inches of snow on the ground respectively in the two cities. Lest on think that proves the point that snow for Christmas is becoming a rarer occurrence is these locations, it turns out snowfall and snowpack is relatively rare for both cities on Christmas due to their locations on the Atlantic ocean which moderates temperatures across the region.
Misleadingly bemoaning the disappearance of show, Forbes wrote:
For generations, the allure of a white Christmas has captured imaginations worldwide, a phenomenon immortalized in songs and movies. Yet, as global temperatures rise due to climate change, the possibility of snow-covered Decembers is slipping further out of reach in many regions. Recent data reveals the chilling truth that climate change is reshaping winters, and the implications go far beyond holiday aesthetics.
According to NASA, the planet’s average surface temperature has risen by about 1.1°C since the late 19th century, with most warming occurring in the past 40 years. Winters, once defined by prolonged snowfalls, are growing shorter and milder.
Neither Forbes nor NBC are the first to assert that climate change means the end of snow. Sadly, for media integrity, they also likely won’t be the last make such false claims. The New York Times, CNN, and the Daily Telegraph, among other promoters of fake climate news, have made such claims previously. Climate Change Weekly and Climate Realism, here, here, and here, for example, have debunked such claims in the past couple of years.
Had Forbes and NBC looked beyond the slight rise in temperature to speculate about snow’s decline, and rather looked at long-term snow data, as captured by the Rutgers Global Snow Lab, they would have found, that snow extent in the Northern Hemisphere has increased over the past 50 years of modest warming. (See the graph, below)
In fact, the now seemingly discontinued site, Cold Weather Report, during its operation detailed the number of snow records set in the United States and around the globe in recent years. Electroverse has an even longer, continuous track record for covering unusually severe cold and snow events and the harms they cause. Forbes and the other mainstream media outlets seemingly can’t be bothered to check the records discussed in sites like this before running their annual, seasonal slate of misleading alarming climate change stories about the end of snow.
As discussed in Climate at a Glance: Snowpack, NASA satellites also have measured a modest increase in snow cover across North America, Europe, and the Northern Hemisphere as a whole since the 1980s. (See the graph, below)
Some falls, winters, and springs will see colder temperatures and more snow than others, some will see the opposite, warmer temperatures and less snow, but long-term, there has been no trend in declining snowfall, snowpack, or snow extent during the recent period of modest warming. Credible news outlets should report this fact rather than trying to push alarm and climate action based on a false narrative about the end of white Christmases.
H. Sterling Burnett, Ph.D., is the Director of the Arthur B. Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy and the managing editor of Environment & Climate News. In addition to directing The Heartland Institute’s Arthur B. Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy, Burnett puts Environment & Climate News together, is the editor of Heartland’s Climate Change Weekly email, and the host of the Environment & Climate News Podcast.
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We very seldom get even snow flurries here in Fort Lauderdale. But we will have two nights, tomorrow and Jan 8, when we are likely to get green iguana flurries. They get paralyzed below about 45F and fall out of their night tree perches. Happens every few years. Local papers always make a big deal of it, with lots of funny early morning pictures.
One of my favorite “Florida Man” stories from a few years back:
A guy notices all of the green iguanas on the ground after a cold snap. Being a kind-hearted soul, he starts picking them up and putting them in the back seat of his car to take the distressed reptiles to the animal rescue.
Apparently, about 40 of them all reached “resume mobility” temperature simultaneously, and freaked out to be piled on top of each other in the back of a warm automobile!
I believe no humans or iguana were harmed in the incident. However, I suspect one pair of underwear may have suffered significant trauma.
The writers can come here (Washington State) and bag up some of the snow that has been here since November, and that is falling at this very moment. I’d write more but I have to move some of the lovely stuff off my walk and out from near the mailbox or the carrier won’t delivery my mail.
You should have done what I did. I live in the mountains north of Reno. I have always loved shoveling snow, but now I’m a septuagenarian, and after 25 years of reading that men in their 40s should stop shoveling snow, late summer I went out and bought a big snow blower – heated handles, 6 forward gears, 2 reverse, headlights, electric start – it’s awesome!
You guessed it. We’ve had three inches spread over two storms. Not enough to actually blow any snow. Almost not worth shoveling. The neighbors blame it on me. I tell them it’s globull warming! (In my neighborhood, which has eight homes within a five mile radius, there are no believers in the church of AGW.)
Fingers crossed for February.
John, you should specify where exactly you are. You’re east of the Cascades, or rather on the east slope, if I remember correctly. Out on the west side, we haven’t even had a freeze in a month and a half.
Jeff,
I’m about 5 miles NE from the EBRG airport (KELN). The area is called the Naneum Fan — rocks spreading south from the Naneum Creek Basin. Google Earth will show the exit of the stream from the mountains, use Naneum Canyon, WA
Always fun reading the headlines from Electroverse.
Electroverse – Documenting Earth Changes During The Next Grand Solar Minimum
Three-Day Snow Warning For UK; Extreme Snowfall Paralyzes Northern Norway; Siberia Nears -60C (-76F); Record Snows For Uttarakhand; + “Dangerous Cold”
(maybe bit biased toward the cold end, but I haven’t looked at the actual reports)
In the past I was able to link these stories into Facebook so that they were able to increase education on climate.
Very nice Sterling.
Here in England there has been a 10% increased chance of snowfall on Christmas Eve in southern and eastern England during 1991-2020 when compared with the pervious 30 years. According to a study from Helsinki University.
Also l myself have kept a record of the date of the first snowfall of the season here in N Lincolnshire, England since 1977, and this has shown no trend in the first snow arriving later in the season due to warming over that time.
“Lest on think that proves the point that snow for Christmas is becoming a rarer occurrence is these locations”
It has certainly become rarer since 1970. Here are the snow depths in Central Park on Christmas Day:
There is zero significance in your graph.. it is just random weather events apart from the 1970s
You are being totally disingenuous as always. !
The 1970s was the coldest period since 1900.
Let’s look at Briffa’s tree rings to see this.
You’re seriously pulling out bogus treemometers?
Use their own stuff against them.. why not.. 😉
It actually matches raw temperature data from the US and other parts of the upper NH quite well.
There is significance to his chart, as it shows that during the 1920’s and 1930’s snow at Christmas had become rare enough in New York.
That Irving Berlin felt the need to write a romanticised song about ‘dreaming of a White Christmas’ in 1940.
You only missed 2024 by this much. 😉
Are you hinting or suggesting that your Central Park snow graph is somehow representative of snow amounts on Christmas Day for the whole USA? For all of North America? I somehow have a very hard time believing that. Look again at the graph in the head posting Nick.
I hope I am not the only one here at WUWT growing increasingly weary of being treated like I have the I.Q. of a 7-year-old whenever you come here a posts a comment like this. Can I ask why you keep coming here a behaving like this?
My graph is exactly on point to the part of the article I quoted from. Here is the longer quote:
“Misleading because snowfall and snowpack on or around Christmas is not becoming rare, and ill-timed because even as the stories were running, New York and Boston, among other areas on the Eastern Seaboard were experiencing their first White Christmases in years, with more than one inch and four inches of snow on the ground respectively in the two cities. Lest on think that proves the point that snow for Christmas is becoming a rarer occurrence is these locations, it turns out snowfall and snowpack is relatively rare for both cities on Christmas due to their locations on the Atlantic ocean which moderates temperatures across the region.”
Your graph is a meaningless piece of trite nonsense., pertaining to absolutely nothing.
I’m guessing you know that, which is why you posted it.
Are you talking about climate change or are you distracting us by going off on a tangent Nick?
The claim of the of Forbes and NBC News piece remain the same, that climate change is affecting chances for a White Christmas in the US and North America:
“Yet, as global temperatures rise due to climate change, the possibility of snow-covered Decembers is slipping further out of reach in many regions. Recent data reveals the chilling truth that climate change is reshaping winters, and the implications go far beyond holiday aesthetics.”
Yet, as I said above, NYC (specifically Central Park) and Boston do not represent what is going on with snowfall nationally or throughout North America. As has been noted, the two cities’ snowfall or snow depth rates are affected by the Atlantic and (as I would add) probably urban heat island to some degree.
Trying to distract from the point of the article by focusing on Boston and NYC does not change or disprove what the snowfall bar graph in the head posting tells us.
The article focused on Boston and NYC, and said white Christmases there were not becoming scarcer, so Forbes is wrong. I showed that in NYC at least, they are. So that effort at refutation fails.
The Rutgers Global Snow Lab bar graph refutes the Forbes/NBC article for all of the NH. That is far more relevant that focusing on two cities on the Eastern Seaboard.
Boston and NYC are deceitful and misleading examples of snowless Christmases anyway given what H Sterling Burnett said:
“Lest on think that proves the point that snow for Christmas is becoming a rarer occurrence is these locations, it turns out snowfall and snowpack is relatively rare for both cities on Christmas due to their locations on the Atlantic ocean which moderates temperatures across the region.”
The Atlantic Ocean Nick, not CO2 in the atmosphere. Oceans warmed by the Sun.
I presume you know what “not seeing the forest for the trees” means, Nick?
What Does “Can’t See The Forest For The Trees” Mean?
“The phrase highlights the inability to comprehend an entire situation because of an overemphasis on its parts. It conveys a sense of being overwhelmed by details, leading to a lack of perspective.”
“The Rutgers Global Snow Lab bar graph refutes the Forbes/NBC article for all of the NH.”
No it doesn’t. It says nothing about Christmas.
“Boston and NYC are deceitful and misleading examples of snowless Christmases anyway given what H Sterling Burnett said:”
They are Burnett’s examples, not mine. And they are no closer to the Atlantic now than they were in 1912.
So is that Climate Change? Or UHI?
Your graph proves the point made. Snow on Christmas in Central Park is not a regular event.
Cherry picking is best done in warm weather when the cherries are ripe.
The historical record back to the beginning of the 20th century does not stray significantly from the records for 1970 and beyond. Yet another myth created to support a false narrative.
https://www.wnyc.org/story/why-white-christmases-new-york-really-are-just-dreams/
From what I have seen, it looks like the US is about to go into the deep freeze for a few days.
Good luck all, Hope your electricity grid holds up !!
The US is a big place. About 1/4 to 1/3 is in the way of this cold air. Coldest zone is the upper-midwest (North Dakota) cold is expected there every January. Any “unhoused” in NYC are in danger. The western states are not in the path, although many of us do have freezing temperatures.
I use Ventusky to watch this. If the Arctic air starts to push up and over the Continental Divide, we can get very cold. December of 2023 was nasty cold. I had -17°F (-27°C).
“Credible news outlets should report this fact “
And miss out on the ad click revenue?
In the UK for it to be a white Christmas, snow has to fall within the 24 hour period of Christmas Day.
I recall a number of Christmases where snow has been on the ground but not officially a white Christmas alas.
In the UK snow is more likely January to March.
I’m sure the new UN Ministry of Truth will properly censure those alarmist news outlets…
The papers must be right. We have not had a white Christmas in living memory here. (Southwest of Sydney Australia). Must be global warming.
And incidentally when we measure snow we call them “inches of David Viner”, after his famous but inevitably stupid commentary about snow in the UK becoming rare and kids not knowing what snow was. That was over 20 years ago.