This is a repeat of a 2015 column that acknowledged 2014-15 being a record snow winter for Boston. Since then, most were in the normal range of 30-50 inches, but the 2022-23 winter was a near-record low of 11.6 inches. As of Feb 10th, Boston has had 22.5 inches for 2024-25.
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History shows a very wide range between high- and low snow winters |
There are winters wherein February sees the first crocuses
of spring, but it is not this year. There are years wherein the first returning
robins are already arriving, but it is not this year. There are years the snow blower
goes untouched, the snowmobile trailered to
Maine, but not this year. This year we
struggle against the white, the ever recurring, ever piling higher snows of the
winter of 2014-15. By all that you hold dear on this frozen earth, you must shovel,
women and men of
Massachusetts.
This winter's snow is rapidly closing in on setting a new
record for Boston, for Worcester, and for points in between. These
cities, each with 125 years of weather data, average 44 and 64 inches,
respectively. The snowiest winter on record for both cities was 1995-96, at
107.6 and 132.9 inches. As of February 23rd, Boston
is at 99.8 inches and Worcester
107.7 inches. This winter already ranks second for Boston, with every expectation that it will
finish as the snowiest winter in recorded history. Worcester is currently fifth snowiest.
Snowfall measurement methods are described in great detail
in a document from the National Weather Service. Briefly, if snow is falling
continuously, depth in the measuring device is measured every six hours, the
device emptied and set out again. Results are added up.
One reason for this record-breaking season is that all snow
is not created equal. Wet snow means that 6-8 inches converts to one inch of
water, but the northeasters that have been repeatedly sweeping through our area
have been cold enough to generate powdery snow that is averaging 17-18 inches
per inch of water. Telling here is that the thirty days of storms that put so
much snow on the ground will in time melt to only five inches of water - not
much above average for this time of year.
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Parking meters near CVS |
Other reasons are meteorological. Weather forecasting
professionals toss about terms such as North Atlantic Oscillation, the
"Ridiculously Resilient Ridge" and Polar Vortex. The net result was that over a short period of
time the storms were colder, larger, and every storm dumped on eastern
Massachusetts, with
little melting in between.
Whatever happened to global warming? The short answer is
that New England is getting wetter faster than
it is getting warmer. For Boston, over a 120-year period the average
temperature has gotten one degree (F) warmer, but 10 percent wetter. As a
result, winter is two weeks shorter, but six of the top ten snowiest winters
have occurred in the last 22 years. As storms track up the east coast the
warmer (and thus wetter) air over the ocean blows inland over/atop cold air,
resulting in snow, snow and more snow.
At some point in the future this will mean more winters of
wet snow, sleet, ice storms and rain. Portland,
Maine has already experienced the
crossover: weather records dating back to 1870 show two degrees of warming, a
15 percent increase in total precipitation, but a decrease in annual snowfall
from 75 to 65 inches. When it comes, the crossover will affect Boston before it impacts the inland cities
and towns.
The first paragraph of this column was a riff on the "But
it is not this day" pre-battle speech in The Lord of the Rings movie, The Return
of the King. Other fictional pre-battle speeches to outnumbered, underdog
troops include those from movies Braveheart and Independence Day, and the
progenitor of them all, the St. Crispin's Day speech from Shakespeare's play,
Henry V. That speech gave us five repeats of "...this day..." and
also the line "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers..." See below.
NOTES
The
Lord of the Rings/The Return of the King (Lord Aragorn speaking)
Sons
of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers!
I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me.
A day may come when the courage of Men fails,
When we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship,
But it is not this day.
An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the Age of Man comes crashing down,
But it is not this day!
This day we fight!
By all that you hold dear on this good earth,
I bid you stand, Men of the West!
Henry
V (King Henry V speaking)
What's he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair
cousin:
If we are mark'd to die, we are enow [enough]
To do our country loss; and if to
live,
The fewer men, the greater share of
honour.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one
man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my
cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments
wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my
desires:
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man
from England:
God's peace! I would not lose so
great an honour
As one man more, methinks, would
share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not
wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland,
through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this
fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be
made
And crowns for convoy put into his
purse:
We would not die in that man's
company
That fears his fellowship to die with
us.
This day is called the feast of
Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes
safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is
named,
And rouse him at the name of
Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see
old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his
neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint
Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and
show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had on
Crispin's day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be
forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then
shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household
words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly
remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach
his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go
by,
From this day to the ending of the
world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of
brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood
with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so
vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they
were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles
any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint
Crispin's day.