Students across the Binghamton University campus are losing layers this warm winter season.
January’s average temperature in Binghamton was 27 degrees, five degrees above the monthly average since 1981, and both December and January ranked in the top 10 warmest since 1951, according to Michael Evans, Science Operation Officer at the Binghamton weather forecast office.
Jenna Fierstein, president of the Student Environmental Action Coalition, said the strange weather is widely discussed among students.
“We talk about it at club meetings and in casual conversations,” Fierstein said. “It’s crazy, people are able to pick spinach in their gardens in January.”
Evans said this mild winter has been caused by jet streams, air currents found in Earth’s atmosphere.
“Cold air masses developing over the arctic this year have been steered by the jet stream in such a way that they move quickly over the North Atlantic, without stalling,” Evans said. “Most years, the masses will settle in for a while, but because of the jet stream these have dropped downwards and then quickly moved.”
He added that the relatively warm temperatures aren’t necessarily correlated with global warming.
“It’s hard to blame this on global warming because there are a lot of cold areas in the world right now; Alaska has had a record-cold January,” he said. “It’s not so much that there isn’t cold air, but that the cold air hasn’t been persistent over the northeastern United States.”
Mark Blumler, associate professor of geography at BU, said global warming and the difference in jet stream patterns could be interrelated.
“You have to explain why the jet stream is taking this path — these things change with global warming,” Blumler said. “I don’t think those two ideas conflict.”
Evans noted that Binghamton has also experienced less snowfall than usual and is on track to come close to its record for least amount of snow in a season.
Evans has noticed both positive and negative results of the weather.
“It’s probably good for people’s heating bills, which is important to a lot of people, but it’s bad for winter sports,” Evans said. “My kids are in ski club and have had a bad year, and people who make their money through plowing or running them have had a rough winter.”
Fierstein, a senior double-majoring in biology and environmental studies, voiced concerns about how animal life will be affected by the relative warmth.
“Certain organisms’ cycles are correlated with the season and this is messing with that,” Fierstein said. “The ecological balance is a delicate one.”
Fierstein said the current overpopulation of deer in the Nature Preserve is an example of this phenomenon.
Blumler is also interested in nature’s reaction to the higher-than-average temperatures.
“I’m curious about how the plants will respond to the warmth, they expect snow for a long time,” Blumler said. “I expect some of them to get confused. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot of plants start trying to grow in February when it’s too early.”
Evans said that Binghamton could potentially cool down throughout February.
“Odds are, it will be colder than January,” he said. “Just because we haven’t had a cold winter so far doesn’t mean that we still won’t.”
Blumler added that he thinks this atypical winter season is likely to be a fluke.
“It probably won’t be this warm next winter,” Blumler said. “This is a real extreme, unusual circumstance.”