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By the calendar, winter ends this coming week in Maine. The first day of spring in the northern hemisphere is March 19, the start of the vernal equinox.
But, for many parts of Maine this year, winter is already a distant memory. Many lakes that are typically frozen over are full of open water, so ice fishing season was cut short. Many winter events, like Aroostook County’s Can-Am dog sled races and snowmobile rides, were canceled because of warm temperatures and a lack of snow.
These cancellations hurt local economies and disrupted vacation plans. They are also a sign and a warning about the impacts of climate change. Without significant changes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally — and quickly — winters in Maine are likely to keep changing.
February’s snowfall in Bangor was the smallest on record since 1926, when official tallies began. This year, less than an inch of snow fell in the Queen City during February. Normally Bangor would see about 17 inches of snowfall during the month of February, according to the National Weather Service.
Floods in January and December devastated communities like Hallowell and Bethel. In January, coastal Maine was hit by back-to-back wind and rainstorms that swept away buildings, eroded beach fronts and closed parks.
There is clearly much of 2024, including the summer, to go, but it is already shaping up to be a record-breaking year. Like last year.
Last year was the warmest on record.
“Not only was 2023 the warmest year in NOAA’s 174-year climate record — it was the warmest by far,” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Chief Scientist Dr. Sarah Kapnick said in January.
The Earth’s average land and ocean surface temperature in 2023 was more than 2 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th century average. The agency says there is a 99 percent chance 2024 will be among the five hottest years on record and a one-in-three chance that this year will be hotter, on average, than last year.
Unprecedented warming globally is primarily being driven by climate change, scientists have said, although it is currently exacerbated by El Nino, a natural pattern when warmer winds dip south, pushing warm water in the Pacific Ocean toward the West Coast of the U.S. and Canada, which can lead to higher temperatures worldwide.
Beyond warmer winters and less snow, there are other reasons to worry about climate change.
“Scientists are freaking out about ocean temperatures,” a New York Times headline trumpeted late last month. That’s because ocean temperatures have jumped much more than expected over the past 18 months.
“We’re used to having a fairly good handle on things. But the impression at the moment is that things have gone further and faster than we expected,” Rob Larter, a marine scientist in England who tracks polar ice levels, told the Times. “That’s an uncomfortable place as a scientist to be.”
We’d have to agree. When scientists are concerned, that’s a big reason for worry – and action.
Scientists have been warning for years that urgent action is needed to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. Relatively snowless winters, winter floods and rising ocean temperatures are more evidence that we need to do much more before it is too late.