From the warmest December on record to the "Blizzard of 2016" and snow in April, the winter of 2015-2016 put itself in the record books across the northeastern United States.
The transition to a strong El Niño brought a much different weather pattern to the region compared to the winter of 2014-2015 which brought copious amounts of cold and snow.
The winter of 2015-2016 impacted the northeastern United States differently based on location, causing some locations to end with below-normal snowfall and above-normal snowfall in others.
Warmest December on record hinders lake-effect snow season
The AccuWeather winter forecast for the Northeast and Great Lakes highlighted a mild start to the winter season as El Niño strengthened in the equatorial Pacific. The milder pattern would also lead to a weak lake-effect snow season across the Great Lakes.
"We were certain that the winter cold would be less persistent and less frequent compared to last year," AccuWeather Long Range Meteorologist Paul Pastelok said.
The mild start to the season failed to produce many days of air cold enough to produce significant bands of lake-effect snow prior to 2016.
"The mild pattern during November and December took over across the eastern United States and allowed very few lake-effect events to occur at the beginning of the season," Pastelok said.
While November ended as one of the warmest months on record for portions of the Northeast, December not only became the warmest month on record across the Northeast, but shattered the previous record.
