First Alert Weather In-Depth: Winter temperatures and climate change

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — There is no doubt we have had a real wild winter season. Certainly, elements such as snowfall and wind are on that list of variability. But probably the biggest ingredient that has had the most variability has been the temperature. Today is certainly a good example.

This mild weather has been streaming into Western New York Monday. Monday, we had a temperature of 15 degrees and then just a couple of days later we got into the low 50s.

Looking back 50 years ago, there has been lots of variability in terms of the average temperature from year to year, but when compared to the general trend, there is no doubt that our winters are not as cold as they used to be some 50 years ago.

It is important to note that we are not the only ones that are dealing with this. All across the country, but especially through the Great Lakes and the northeast has been experiencing warmer than normal winter seasons. Again, this is specifically for the months of December, January and February going back to 1970.

Now, why is this happening? Certainly climate change is a huge portion of this warmth.

What does this mean going forward? And what is going to be the impact? All good questions that we are eventually are going to have to answer.