(File photo of Cardinal in the Snow)
(Reported by Mark Richardson of Keystone News Service)
(Harrisburg, PA) Across Pennsylvania and other northern U.S. states, climate change from burning oil, coal and methane gas is increasing the number of winter days with minimum temperatures above freezing. The phenomenon is known as “lost winter,” and a Climate Shift Index analysis of temperatures shows more than sixty percent of twenty-eight snow-belt states are having at least one additional week of days above freezing. Climate Central Meteorologist Shel Winkley says winter weather will not be as cold for as long as it used to be. Winkley says when you look at the thirty-year average of snowfall for Pennsylvania, cities like Philadelphia now have only a nine percent chance of seeing a white Christmas, with Pittsburgh faring a bit better, at about thirty-one percent.