"Used to be that December meant snowfall; you took it for granted, but not anymore," said Steve Knight, a 59-year-old bus driver from Cambridge, Minn., who has raced dog sleds since 1976.
Warmer air also means snowfall will be confined to higher elevations, likely above 6,500 feet, which is a change from more recent storms, forecasters said.
Snow is predicted for Tuesday -- and that could well mean a snowfall that sticks, rather than mere flurries.
Warmer winters mean less snowfall.
Increased evaporation from the exposed sea should also mean more snowfall to compensate for the ice cap's losses (though together with rapid erosion at the margins this could increase the gradient of the ice cap, making it less stable).
With respect to Greenland, it is expected that warmer temperatures increase melting but warmer temperatures can also mean more snowfall, as there is more moisture in warm air which can then fall as snow.
So it's not surprising that the 12 days from Christmas Day to Epiphany, on 6 January, are said to set the pattern for the weather for the next year, while thunder is supposed to mean heavy snowfalls for the rest of the winter.
Warmer air also means that snowfall is replaced by rainfall and evaporation rates tend to increase.
This also meant less snowfall, both because of the fast motion of the storm and the lack of lake effect snow.
Both the MWC user and clinician groups noted the particular challenges of propelling on snow and ice; this was true at both sites, despite the substantial differences in climate between the cities (mean days of snowfall: Winnipeg 53, Vancouver 11; mean depth of snow between December and March: Winnipeg 15 cm, Vancouver 0 cm).
