Maps reveal how global warming will affect winter temperatures across America
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Winter is officially here - but in future years, it could look very different, researchers have said.
They have created a series of maps showing how climate change will change America's winters dramatically.
Since 1970, the average winter temperature in the continental U.S. has warmed by 2.4°F.
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Warming winters across the US: Climate Central used NOAA data to map exactly how winters have changed since 1970.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. data was also used to see that winters are getting wetter in the Central US.
'In the big picture, the U.S. has seen a number of climate shifts in the cold season over the past 40 years or so,' said Climate Central, which created the maps.
Since 1970, the average winter temperature in the continental U.S. has warmed by 2.4°F since 1970.
'That's faster than the planet as a whole, which has warmed 1.1°F over that same period, due in large part to rising human greenhouse gas emissions.'
The team's maps reveal that certain regions have seen heat rises far greater than the average.
The Upper Midwest leads the charge as the fastest-warming region followed by the Northeast.
The South and West, by contrast, have warmed relatively slowly.
The only notable cold spots are in eastern Nevada and southern Wyoming.
The Southwest has seen rises of just 2.3C since 1970 - whereas the upper midwest has seen a huge 7.5C boost to its winter temperatures.
In America's West, a 3.0C rise was recorded, while in the Northeast a much larger 5.4C boost was uncovered since 1970
The researchers also looked at rain.
'A large swath in the middle of the country from Texas to Michigan has seen an uptick in precipitation.
'The Rockies have also gotten wetter, which is good news to skiers (though that's tempered by rising temperatures).
'At the same time, the Southeast and Northwest have gotten somewhat drier.'
Despite the current drought afflicting California, the long-term trend shows that winters have gotten wetter in a large chunk of the state.
This wet season appears off to a better start than the past two, but with record heat baking soils to their driest levels in at least 1,200 years, a lot more rain is needed this winter to bust the drought.
It comes as Heatwaves and prolonged spells of freezing weather have become more common over the past three decades, according to scientists.
The Rockies have also gotten wetter, which is good news for skiers, while the Ohio Valley has seen a 4.4C rise
America's south saw a rise of 4.0C since 1970, which equates to .88C per year, while the southeast saw a 2.9C rise
Researchers at the University of East Anglia found that extreme weather conditions have been occurring more frequently in the past 30 years compared to a 130 year average.
Meteorologists have said that 2014 is on track to the be warmest year on record.
Figures published by the Met Office predicted that the global mean temperature for 2014 is 0.01 degrees C warmer than 2010, currently the warmest on record at 14.50 degrees C (58.12F)
This is despite much of the northern hemisphere being plunged into temperatures well below freezing in January as North America was hit by an Arctic polar vortex.
According to the latest findings from the University of East Anglia's climatic research unit, temperatures in the northern hemisphere have been more volatile than in the southern hemisphere.
Average global temperatures for 2014 have been higher than average and may even break previous records
Professor Phil Jones, who led the work, said: 'Trends in extreme heat and cold are important because they have a large impact on water supplies, agricultural productivity and other factors related to human health and wellbeing.
'Improved understanding of the spatial patterns of change are vital for understanding the causes of recent extreme weather events.'
The researchers, whose findings are published in the journal Geophysical Review Letters, analysed monthly temperature records at set points around the world between 1881 and 2013.
The found that on average through the 130-year period, periods of unusually cold weather increased in frequency more than extreme heatwaves.
This led to a narrowing of the range of the Earth's temperatures, they said.
However, in the past 30 years, the researchers found that the pattern has been reversed with incidences of hot weather increasing at a faster rate.
Extreme weather can bring chaos to transport systems while causing billions of pounds worth of damage and hundreds of thousands of deaths around the world each year.
An estimated 31,000 people died in the UK as a result of bitter temperatures during the winter of 2012/2013.
During December 2013 and January 2014, 200 million people were blasted by icy temperatures as arctic winds brought heavy snow to much of North America.
Temperatures fell as low as -38°C (-37°F) in Babbitt Minnesota while Wisconsin saw its lowest temperature since 1979. The cold air reached as far south as Dallas that reportedly saw temperatures plunge below −9°C (16°F).
The conditions are estimated to have cost the USA more than $5 billion and saw widespread power failures across large swathes of Canada.
In some areas, temperatures were so low that it led to residents being able to throw pots of boiling water and watching them freeze before the water hit the ground.
By contrast, in 2003, around 30,000 people died across Europe during a summer heatwave, where temperatures in some areas reached more than 104°F (40°C).
Professor Scott Robeson, from Indiana University, who also took part in the study, said: 'Arguably, these cold extremes and warm extremes are the most important factors for human society.'
He added that the study could help to explain the 'pause' in global warming since 1998 that was reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change last year.
The new study showed that while warming continued in most parts of the planet, it was offset by a strong cooling during the winter months in the Northern Hemisphere.
Prof Robeson said: 'There really hasn't been a pause in global warming. There has been a pause in Northern Hemisphere winter warming.'
It comes after separate research, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, found that the chances of heatwaves in Europe have increased in the past decade.
The likelihood of Extreme heatwaves, such as the one in 2003, have also increased tenfold, from being a one in 1,000 year event to occurring around once in a century.
By the 2040s, such extreme heatwaves could happen every other year if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, the researchers at the Met Office claimed.
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