Climate Matters: Climate change is melting snow chances in winter

Dreaming of a white Christmas? That may just be a dream in the future as winter continues to warm faster than any other season, making it harder to reach temperatures cold enough for snow.

Alternatively, the wettest days are getting even wetter with climate change, which could increase snowfall on the few snow days left. These changes won't just impact our chance of seeing snow on Christmas, snowpack has important ties to agriculture, waterways, commerce, and many other systems even outside of the winter season.

The world is warming but it's not equal everywhere and different seasons are reacting to climate change in different ways. While warmer temperatures generate a lot of headlines in the warmer seasons, warming in winter is just as important. Summers in Columbia have warmed about 2 degrees Fahrenheit in the last half century, compared to over 5 degrees of warming in winter.

Intuitively, these warmer temperatures make it harder to get cold enough for snow. By the numbers, the proportion of precipitation that falls as snow has dropped by 80% on average in the United States since 1950. That means much more precipitation is falling as rain nowadays, even on the wettest winter days.

Snowfall trends have wide-reaching impacts beyond the winter season. Snowmelt is an important resource for drinking water for millions, it contributes to streamflows in the spring, and snowpack can be a tool for recreation and tourism. A warmer and less snowy world will have to adapt to these changes and we may have to get used to seeing less chance of a white Christmas.