Ohio winters are getting shorter. The consequences are far reaching
Ohio winters are getting shorter. The consequences are far reaching
Before and after: Winter Storm Fern buries Columbus
Video shows before and after of Winter Storm Fern as Franklin County issued its first ever level 3 snow emergency.
Columbus has lost weeks worth of its most bitter cold temperatures the last 70 years as climate change has made winters shorter throughout the United States, according to a recent analysis from USA Today.
The wide-ranging fallout of shorter winters will affect everything from diseases and agriculture to drinking water and the economy.
In Columbus, there were 25 fewer freezing days in the winter of 2024-25 on average compared to the winter of 1955-56. Columbus has lost even more freezing days over that period than the national average of 19.
Other cities in northern Ohio had have lost even more freezing days: Toledo had 32 less, and Akron and Cleveland both had 35 fewer days with freezing temperatures.
Shorter, warmer winters might sound nice if you’re dreaming of a summer vacation, but the temperature shift has far reaching implications across the United States. In Ohio and many parts of the country, mosquitoes and ticks carrying various diseases have been expanding their range and season with the warming temperatures.
For Ohio farmers, the warmer winters can lead to more crop pests, pathogens and invasive plants that cold weather would have otherwise “kept in check,” according to a webpage from the Ohio Farm Bureau. Those species can also spread north.
Although the warmer winters has expanded the growing season, increased precipitation in the spring and fall have reduced the number of available field work days proportionately. That effectively cancels out the gains from the longer season, according to the bureau.
How will shorter winters affect other regions of the United States?
USA Today’s national analysis found that all but two of 250 cities in the U.S. had less average freezing days than 70 years ago. The warmer winters are already affecting outdoor recreation industries dependent on cold temperatures, such as Colorado’s ski industry, as well as increased risk for summer wildfires in the already drought-stricken Rocky Mountain region.
In Minnesota and Wisconsin, warmer temperatures have led to the cancellation of sporting events because of a lack of ice or snow.
The warmer and shorter winters also have a negative effect on maple syrup production in the Midwest and Northeast, as warmer temperatures starting sooner in the spring shorten the harvest season.
Anna Lynn Winfrey covers regional/suburban trending stories for The Columbus Dispatch. She can be reached at awinfrey@dispatch.com.
USA TODAY reporters Ignacio Calderon, Ramon Padilla, Veronica Bravo and Janet Loehrke contributed reporting.