Glenn ‘Hurricane’ Schwartz: These Numbers Tell the Story of Climate Change in Philadelphia

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Image of Glenn Schwartz via NBC Philadelphia.

Weather records from past decades show that the climate in the Philadelphia area has changed in a variety of ways over the years, writes Glenn “Hurricane” Schwartz for NBC Philadelphia.

Schwartz has been studying weather in the area since the 1950s and co-authored The Philadelphia Area Weather Book in 2003 with Dr. Jon Nese.

According to Schwartz, the data shows that the city and its surroundings do not get as cold as before. The last time Philadelphia had an official temperature below zero was in 1994. In the 120 years before 1994, 35 days had sub-zero temperatures.

Summers, however, are getting hotter. The 12 hottest summers in the city’s history have occurred since 1991, with four this decade.

Annual temperatures have also been rising, with 12 of the warmest 13 years in the city coming since 1990, five in this decade alone.

Rain also tends to be heavier, with the two rainiest years and months happening this decade.

Finally, when it snows, it’s now snowing more. The two snowiest winters were in the last 10 years. The third snowiest winter was 1995-96, which also had the biggest snowstorm ever recorded here. The next three largest also occurred in the last decade.

Read more about climate change in Philadelphia at NBC Philadelphia here.

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