Chicago – Crocuses are pushing out of the ground in New Jersey. Ice fishing tournaments in Minnesota are being canceled for lack of ice. And golfers are hitting the links in Chicago in January.
Much of the Midwest and the East Coast are going through a remarkably warm winter, with temperatures running 10 and 20 degrees higher than normal in many places.
“I’m not complaining. I can take this,” said Rudolph Williams, a doorman in New York City who normally wears a hat this time of year but stood outside in 50-degree weather with his shaved head uncovered.
“The Earth is recalibrating itself: Last year, we had a cold winter, and it’s balancing itself out now. In January, it feels like the middle of April.”
New York City saw a November and December without snow for the first time since 1877. New Jersey had its warmest December since records started being kept 111 years ago.
Maria Freitas said that not only are crocus bulbs blooming in her Rahway, N.J., backyard, but the asparagus is 3 inches high.
“They think it’s spring. They’re so confused,” she said.
Meteorologists say the warm spell is due to a combination of factors: El Niño, a cyclical warming trend underway in the Pacific Ocean, can lead to milder weather, particularly in the Northeast; and the jet stream, the high-altitude air current that works like a barricade to hold back warm Southern air, is running much farther north than usual over the East Coast.
The weather is prone to short- term fluctuations, and forecasters said the mild winter does not necessarily mean global warming is upon us – witness the recent blizzards in Colorado.
“No cause for alarm. Enjoy it while you have it,” said Mike Halpert, head of forecast operations at the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center.
At New York’s Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the “everblooming” cherry trees are flowering more fully than usual, producing thousands of blooms instead of hundreds.
But the mild weather also is hurting businesses and events.
In New Jersey, the Mountain Creek ski resort in Vernon is struggling to open more trails. There haven’t been many nights cold enough to make snow.
“We’re keeping our fingers crossed that the cold weather will get here soon,” resort spokeswoman Shannon McSweeney said. “Either that, or sending trucks out to Colorado to steal some of their snow.”
