Goodbye, Winter: The 10 Things We Won't Forget About Snow and Cold, or Lack Thereof, in 2019-20

Snow and cold have faded away for most, bringing to an end a strange 2019-20 winter season in the United States.

For much of the nation, this past season – encompassing autumn through spring, when snow falls in areas where snow is typical – was rather benign.

According to the Accumulated Winter Season Severity Index (AWSSI) from the Midwest Regional Climate Center, combining temperatures, snow and snow depth into a seasonal index sometimes referred to as the winter misery index, most locations in the Lower 48 states had a mild or moderate season.

A number of cities in the East, including Asheville, North Carolina; Atlanta; Baltimore; Louisville, Kentucky; and Raleigh, North Carolina, had their mildest winter on record, as calculated by the AWSSI.

But that wasn't the case everywhere.

"Some of the climatologically worst locations in the U.S. for winter severity were actually pretty severe," said Tom Niziol, Weather Underground Category 6 blogger and former winter weather expert at The Weather Channel.

For example, Niziol noted Caribou, Maine, near the border with Canada, has had its fifth-snowiest season, over 3 feet snowier than average through April 28.

We discussed a number of these hard-hit locations in our worst winter cities column.

Having laid that foundation, let's step through the things we won't forget about winter 2019-20, in chronological order.

1. A Record September Snowstorm

Just days after summer officially ended, a snowstorm clobbered parts of Montana and southern Alberta, Canada, Sept. 28-30, damaging trees, knocking out power and snarling travel.

Parts of northern Montana's Rocky Mountain Front picked up feet of wind-driven snow. The town of Babb, Montana, tallied an incredible 52 inches of snow. The sight of huge drifts surrounding homes was surreal in late September.

It was not only a September two-day record snowfall in Great Falls, Montana (19.3 inches), but also its second-heaviest two-day snowstorm of any month since records began.

Missoula, Montana (1.7 inches), and Spokane, Washington (3.3 inches), also set September snow records.

2. Then, A Record October Snowstorm

Just two weeks after the Montana snow blitz, another record-setting storm clobbered the Northern Plains.

This Oct. 10-12 blizzard dumped up to 30 inches of snow in eastern and northern North Dakota. Winds gusting up to 64 mph piled drifts as high as 10 feet, according to the National Weather Service, crippling travel across the state.

The storm set a three-day October snowstorm record in Bismarck (16.9 inches) and Jamestown, North Dakota (14 inches).

And before it clobbered the Plains, it dumped another 3 inches of snow in Spokane, Washington, tying the city's second-snowiest October day, breaking tree limbs and knocking out power.

3. A White Halloween

It got even weirder in late-October.

First, Amarillo, Texas, had a round of thundersnow the week before Halloween, its heaviest October snowfall in 101 years.

After first dumping 7 inches of snow in Denver, a winter storm then blanketed the upper Midwest just in time for Halloween.

Milwaukee had its snowiest Halloween – 5.4 inches – dating to 1871. At least a trace of snow fell in Madison, Wisconsin, eight of 10 days from Oct. 28 through Nov. 6.

By mid-November, it was the "most miserable" start to the winter season in over 70 cities, five weeks before winter officially arrived.

4. Cold, by Autumn Standards

Autumn wasn't just about these freak snowstorms. It was also persistently cold in large parts of the country.

It was the coldest October on record in Idaho, second coldest in Utah, Washington and Wyoming, and among the 10 coldest in eight other states from Kansas to Oregon.

In November, that cold shifted eastward, among the 10 coldest on record in both Mississippi and Vermont.

This early cold left some wondering whether autumn had been skipped. Some trees in the upper Midwest didn't lose their leaves in the fall due to the early, persistently cold weather.

5. Then In Winter, It Warmed Up

A chilly autumn didn't portend a cold winter.

Compare the temperature departure maps below from December through March with the ones above from October and November. Other than some areas slightly colder than average in the West in February and March, most of the country was dominated by warmer-than-average temperatures in the core winter months.

A persistent weather pattern known as the positive phase of the Arctic Oscillation set up in these core winter months, in which the jet stream steered cold, Canadian air eastward, rather than plunging it deep into the U.S. and locking it in place. A persistently strong polar vortex high above the Earth in the stratosphere likely was a factor in this pattern.

It was debatable whether Florida had much of a winter at all; It had its hottest January to March period on record.

The state's most significant, but brief, cold snap in late January was memorable more for its stunning effect on iguanas.

6. 70s in January

Typically the coldest time of year, Boston instead soared into the 70s two days in a row on the weekend of Jan. 11-12, smashing its all-time January record on the 12th (74 degrees).

Boston had previously only reached 70 degrees in January twice, in 1876 and 1950. Its average high that time of year is only 36 degrees.

Coincidentally, the 100th annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society kicked off that weekend in Boston. Instead of a nor'easter, it was warm winds that ruled the weekend for the annual gathering of meteorologists and scientists.

It was so weirdly warm in the Northeast that weekend that Bill Kardas, chief meteorologist at WKTV in Utica, New York, tweeted that he slept with his windows open that Saturday night – in mid-January.

This is unheard of for a city that has an average low of 11 degrees on Jan. 12. But temperatures were in the mid-60s at midnight, warmer than Utica's average low during the hottest time of the year (59 degrees).

7. Ice Machine Broke

Given the mild winter, ice cover in the Great Lakes was paltry.

This was particularly evident on Lake Erie, the shallowest, and thus typically fastest, Great Lake to freeze over.

Lake Erie was ice free from Dec. 29 through Jan. 17, and then again for four days after Groundhog Day, according to NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. After spiking briefly to just under 16% ice coverage on Leap Day, the lake was ice free for the season beginning on March 10.

In an average winter, the lake reaches a peak of 70% ice coverage in February, and isn't ice free until late April.

This lack of ice cover and record or near-record lake levels left downwind lakeshores susceptible to lakeshore flooding when strong low-pressure systems moved through. In late February, one such storm whipped lake spray onto homes, encasing them in ice.

It also allowed bands of lake-effect snow to blanket parts of New York state and Michigan, an infrequent occurrence in April.

8. Newfoundland Blizzard

Other than the bizarre September and October blizzards, there was only one other winter storm that stuck in my memory all season. Even by Canadian Maritime standards, it was a doozy.

A bomb cyclone hammered Newfoundland, Canada, on Jan. 17, burying the provincial capital St. John's in 30 inches of snow, its highest daily snowfall on record.

Wind gusts up to 97 mph whipped the snow into massive drifts, burying vehicles, blocking roads and filling backyards, prompting a state of emergency in the city. It even triggered a small avalanche that crashed through the living room of one St. John's home.

The photos and video from the storm's aftermath deserve a second look.

9. Pathetic Snow Season in Northeast

The most eye-opening snow have-nots this season were in the Northeast.

Neither Philadelphia nor Washington D.C. could scrape up a measly inch of snow the entire season combined. Only the 1972-73 season – a trace of snow – was less snowy in Philadelphia than 2019-20.

Boston's snow deficit was more than 28 inches. Cleveland only picked up half its average snow. Elkins, West Virginia, was almost 50 inches behind an average seasonal pace through April 28.

"The overall winter pattern set up for many 'Colorado low alley' type winter storms," Niziol said, referring to a storm track northeastward from the High Plains of eastern Colorado into the Plains.

If a nor'easter did form, it either was too far offshore and moved away quickly, or lacked cold air. Most often, low pressure tracked well inland, instead of offshore, pumping warmer air into the East and taking snow off the table, particularly along the Interstate 95 urban corridor.

10. April's Cold and Snow

Ultimately, warmth in the heart of winter was bookended by a cold autumn and a chilly April.

The Front Range of Colorado took it on the chin in mid-April.

Boulder, Colorado, was hit by back-to-back snowstorms Easter Sunday and Monday (18.7 inches), then again three days later (another 17.7 inches).

Weather Underground meteorologist and Boulder resident Bob Henson pointed out that despite a snowless January, Boulder smashed its record-snowiest season, which had stood for 111 years.

In the wake of the twin storms, Boulder plunged to its latest-in-season single-digit temperature on record.

Despite the underwhelming snow season in the Northeast, parts of upstate New York picked up over a foot of snow in the final week of April.

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