Miss the snow? Experts explain why you may see less over the years

Residents in some parts of the country are noticing how much less snow has fallen over the years, as snowshoes, cross-country skis and sleds gather dust in their closets.

"I'm getting kind of old -- I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to use those skis again without breaking something," joked Sarah Pregitzer, 70, from Grant, Michigan, in an interview with ABC News.

"Back in 2002, it seemed like our whole lives were surrounded by snow. It felt like summer never came," said Christine Smith, a resident of Canandaigua, New York. "I feel like last year I only put my boots on twice."

"I remember one time we even sledded for swim team practice instead of swimming inside," said Caitlin Harvey, a meteorologist for ABC affiliate KETV in Omaha, Nebraska. She recalls the superstitious rituals she would perform in order to secure their chances of a snow day as a child: throwing ice cubes around or performing a snow dance. "But I haven't seen many snow days [since]. Those are fun times. It was always going to be a good day when we had a snow day."

Among the consequences of climate change is the warming of the winter, the fastest-warming season for much of the U.S., according to climate research group Climate Central.

This means there are less freezing temperatures, but more moisture.

New Jersey state climatologist and Rutgers University professor David Robinson -- who boasts he is known "as a snowman" -- explains that the impact of this on snowfall is complicated.

For moisture to fall as snow, he says the air needs to be at or below the freezing point of 32 degrees, according to the NOAA.

Even if cities nationwide are warming, those that remain cold enough will still get snow -- but once you go over that freezing point, what would have been snow in years past become rain events, said Robinson.

And since warmer air can hold more moisture, some places will see increased rainfall take the place of some snowfall, according to Climate Central.

If temperatures can get low enough, some regions will experience heavier snowstorms. "A 30-degree snowstorm could provide more snow than a 20-degree snowstorm because you can have more moisture involved that comes out in the form of snow," said Robinson.

In a Climate Central analysis of over 2,000 locations, 64% recorded less snow than they did in the early 1970s. The other 36% saw an increase.

Pregitzer, who has lived in West Michigan for decades, remembers snow banks towering over her head as a child: "Once winter started, winter stayed and there's something really nice about that winter. It's very cozy if you are able to adapt to it."

But the change in snowfall has wide-ranging implications for Americans beyond the nostalgia of the winter season, according to Climate Central Senior Research Associate Kaitlyn Trudeau.

"There's a lot of that that we're going to lose -- its impact on the economy, its impact on our culture. It's also impact on the environment, impact on water supplies," said Trudeau.

Warmer weather and less snow mean there's a decline in snowpack and that snow melts earlier in regions like the West and Northern Great Plains region. Snowpack -- the accumulation and compression of snow on the ground -- sustains the water supply for many regions, supplying water for drinking, irrigation and more throughout the year, according to Trudeau.

In the West, snowmelt supplies up to 75% of the water supply for some states, according to past U.S. Geological Survey data.

Climate Central found that when there's less snowpack and the snow melts earlier, it increases wildfire risk, drought risk, and increased risks to agricultural and food production.

In Nebraska, Harvey points to Nebraska's worsening fire season, which saw its second-worst season in 2022 and is currently facing some of its driest months on record.

"Here in Omaha, it seems like the dry air closer to the surface has been beating out any sort of moisture, snow or rain, especially this year," Harvey said.

The multibillion-dollar winter recreation and tourism industry will also likely take an economic hit, with shorter seasons and less snow to line the trails, according to Trudeau.

Residents experiencing less snow have mixed feelings about the changes -- some miss the silence of a holiday snowfall or the thrill of winter sports while others bask in their freedom from slushy roads and shivering in the cold.

"To have an extra layer of the weather as a worry is not really something that I think anybody wants to deal with," said Smith.

Meanwhile Trudeau, who grew up in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, has been on the hunt for a long snow season.

"I'm hoping to one day to be in a place where it snows a lot, but sadly, I think that my chances of that happening might be pretty, pretty slim," Trudeau said. "There really are impacts that will affect people more so than I think they realize."

But Robinson says not to put away the winter gear for good. Though snow may become less common, the complexities of how snowfall is impacted means there are still many chances for powerful storms to "come along and surprise you."

"We're working with a warmer climate, but it still doesn't mean we can't have the mechanisms in place -- the dynamics, if you will -- to generate that rare snowstorm that could really clobber people," said Robinson. "At that point, you're less prepared than ever to deal with that storm, so life grinds to a halt, or it becomes a very dangerous situation."