New England warming faster than most places on Earth, study finds | US weather

The American region called New England is widely known for its colonial history, maple syrup, and frigid, snowy winters. However, many of these norms are being upended by the rapidly changing climate, with new research revealing that the region is warming faster than almost anywhere else on Earth.

The breakneck speed of New England’s transformation makes it the fastest-warming region in the United States except Arctic Alaska, and the pace of its temperature increase has apparently increased over the past five years, the study found.

“The temperature is not just increasing, it’s accelerating,” said Stephen Young, a climate researcher at Salem State University, who led the study, published in the journal Climate, with his son Joshua Young.

“It’s really accelerated in recent years, which surprised me. Our climate is moving in a new direction, after being relatively stable for the last 10,000 years.”

“Along with the Arctic and parts of Europe and China, the northeastern United States is one of the fastest warming regions in the world. New England is now moving toward the southeastern United States.”

For the study, the Youngs analyzed three datasets of daytime and nighttime temperatures, as well as ground snow cover, that have helped shape New England — the northeastern region that encompasses Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut — since 1900.

They found that New England warmed by 2.5°C on average between 1900 and 2024. This is well beyond the global average, with global warming being around 1.3°C during this period due to the release of heat-trapping gases from the burning of fossil fuels. “It’s happening very quickly, which is concerning,” Young said.

Rising temperatures are eroding the intense cold that characterizes New England winters. Minimum and nighttime temperatures rise faster than maximum and daytime temperatures, while winters warm twice as fast as other seasons.

A major reason for this unusual heat buildup could be the changing Atlantic Ocean buffeting the New England coastline. Oceans absorb more than 90% of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere, and in recent years ocean temperatures have broken records.

In the North Atlantic near New England, an increase in cold, fresh water from melting Greenland glaciers is slowing the Gulf Stream, an ocean conveyor belt of warm, salty water that flows north. These warmer waters are pushed toward the Gulf of Maine, accumulating heat on the New England coastline which is then pushed inland by the prevailing winds.

“Excess heat from climate change is stored in the oceans like a huge battery,” Young said. “This is now being released into the atmosphere and New England is the recipient of this energy.”

Once considered something of a mild-climate haven, New England has suffered severe climate shocks in recent years, including massive flooding and prolonged drought.

Increasing heat, meanwhile, poses a threat to valuable aspects of New England life, such as maple syrup production and winter sports: An ice hockey tournament held on lakes in Vermont and New Hampshire has had to be canceled or moved several times in recent years due to lack of ice, while ski resorts have struggled due to lack of snow.

“I live just north of Boston and when I moved here in the 1990s, I skated on the ponds all the time. I haven’t done that in a long time,” Young said. “This sort of thing has virtually disappeared from much of southern New England.”