They’re in the rear view mirror now, but the extreme cold and non-stop snow — have we seen the last of it? Spring is still about 3 weeks away.
Why the back-to-back significant snow storms? New Jersey State Climatologist David Robinson of Rutgers says climate change plays a part.
“With the change in climate the models that look to the future suggest that the weather patterns may become a little more persistent, a little more exaggerated,” he said.
But Robinson said he would not cite climate change as the absolute cause — calling that too presumptuous.
He said all the snow isn’t really helping solve another environmental problem in New Jersey.
You’d probably be surprised to learn that the state has been in a drought situation for many months, and that persists despite all the snow.
“We’re keeping a really watchful eye on what’s gonna happen these next 6 to 8 weeks, are we gonna get normal precipitation to help fill our reservoirs which are woefully low for this time of the year?” he asked.
Robinson says 19 of the last 22 months have been in a drought situation in New Jersey … the longest stretch in almost 25 years.
Friday March 20 at 1046am is the start of spring. But conditions may improve before that, Robinson says.
“We’re not done necessarily, so I can’t put a full post-mortem on the winter, there are a couple of storms on the horizon this week that may or may not produce, after that it’s gonna get warm,” said Robinson.
How warm? Robinson said we could see temps in the 50s and 60s, perhaps by the second week of March.