Pas de neige a New York

Les habitues, les "dinosaures" expatries vont diront tous, en hiver, a New York, il fait froid. Cela peut descendre jusqu'a -30 degres Celcius, l'Hudson River gele, et lorsqu'on sort dans la rue, si on a pas le nez, les oreilles et les mains couvertes, on a l'impression que la morsure du froid va les faire tomber et se decomposer dans la minute...

Alors que cette annee, jusqu'a aujourd'hui, pas un flocon. A peine quelques jours de froid et/ou de vent, mais environ 15 degres le jour de Noel et un peu de pluie. Je crois qu'on n'est pas descendu en dessous de zero degres depuis fevrier 2006... !

Depuis 1878, c'est la premiere fois que New York "beneficie" d'une aussi longue periode sans neige... La faute a El Nino, au "global warming", a tous ces gens qui mettent la clim trop forte et trop longtemps, a ceux qui roulent en SUV ou en hummer et qui polluent la planete ? Peut-etre un peu tout le monde.

En attendant, les arbres tentent des bourgeons precoces et on s'inquiete un peu...

Extrait d'un article de AM New York de ce matin :

The city's 22,000 tons of rock salt are languishing, joggers are running through Central Park in shirtsleeves and Brooklyn cherry blossom trees that usually come to life in April are already in full bloom.

You can blame El Nino, global warming or blind chance, but today marks the longest New York City has gone into the season without snowfall since 1878, when it finally snowed on Jan. 4.

And there isn't a flake in sight: Mild temperatures are expected to continue through the weekend, possibly hitting 61 on Saturday.

[...]

Meteorologists say the this year's record-breaking climate pattern is due to a combination of a mild El Nino over the Pacific Ocean and strong winds that are preventing the Canadian polar jet stream from dipping down into the Eastern United States.

The snow-free winter seems especially peculiar because the previous four winters all produced more than 40 inches of snow, almost double the city's yearly average of 22.4 inches.

"There is no doubt there is some contribution from global warming in this," said Conte. "We are just not sure how much."

While the snow-free city is a welcome blessing for joggers and nature lovers, others New Yorkers are feeling the pinch.

"Without the visual stimulation of seeing white snow, our customers are just not coming in for sleds, cross-country skies and other items," said Carey Lee, a manager at Princeton Ski Shop in Manhattan. "But winter is one of the four seasons, and we are hoping it will make its presence known soon. We pray for snow."