A February 2026 PLOS Climate study found that in northern states, warming concentrates on the cold end of the temperature range. Burlington's winters have warmed 7°F since 1970, the largest increase among U.S. cities Climate Central examined. Hot days haven't budged. The deep cold is just leaving.
Willis Wood, who runs a 4,000-tap sugaring operation in Weathersfield, told Vermont Public this March, with temperatures running 20 to 25 degrees above normal: "It's so delightfully warm and sunny and warm at night that I think it's great to be alive, but it's a wretched time to be making syrup."
That sentence holds the whole problem. Disappearing cold doesn't feel like crisis. It feels like relief, a milder February, an earlier spring, until the economy and identity built around deep winter no longer have a floor beneath them.