Warm Winter Saves Costs for University

As yesterday’s sudden chill and snowfall reminded Cantabrigians, winter weather can be erratic in New England. But this winter is one for the record books.

According to the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in Asheville, N.C., Massachusetts had the warmest November to January in the past 123 years.

And such warm temperatures have not just aided out-of-season sun-bathers in Harvard Yard, but have also allowed Harvard to enjoy financial savings.

So far, the University has saved over $1 million on energy expense this year and $150,000 on snow removal expenses, according to Thomas E. Vautin, associate vice president for facilities and environmental services.

“In the year to date, we’ve probably spent 60 percent less [on snow removal] than what we have spent typically,” Vautin said.

He said the reduction in energy costs is the result of two separate factors—the warmer temperatures require less steam for heating and a drop in fuel prices has lowered the University’s fuel cost. The spending on steam is down over $1 million dollars from last year, while oil costs are about $110,000 lower.

While the warm winter is beneficial to sun-loving students and to the school’s energy consumption, it may note troubling worldwide phenomenon.

Along with noting the exceptional warmth in Massachusetts, NCDC also recorded the period from November to January as the nation’s warmest on record—4.3 degrees Fahrenheit above the 106-year mean.

The records have not even been limited to the U.S., as global temperatures for January were also the highest in the last 123 years.

This year’s records, as well as longer-term observations of global climate patterns are consistent with the “fingerprint” of the greenhouse effect, said James J. McCarthy, Agassiz professor of biological oceanography.

“One of the interesting observations is that the winters are warming more than the summers,” McCarthy said. “The night times are warming more than the daytimes. Both of these are consistent with the greenhouse gas warming of the earth.”

While the data does have its irregularities, McCarthy noted a pattern of warmer temperatures due to the greenhouse effect.

McCarthy said that unusually warm weather could be caused by cycles of oscillation in atmospheric pressure that bring in different storm patterns. Such cycles include the relatively short duration El Nino, or the long duration North Atlantic Oscillation and Pacific Decadel Oscillations.

But McCarthy said none of these cycles are responsible for the recent climatic patterns.

“The only other suggestion [than the greenhouse effect] that is occasionally made is solar variability, yet the amount of change in solar radiation is not sufficient for this change and would not cause the patterns that one sees today,” McCarthy said.

Cycles in solar activities, called sun spot cycles, have an 11-year duration during which the energy coming from the sun is periodically more or less intense.

And though scientific evidence points to steadily warming winters, Harvard’s utilities’ budget is based on normalized data and will not change drastically due to a single unusually warm year.

“We did forecast somewhat lower fuel costs [this year] because we have been watching that trend for some time,” Vautin said. “But use of energy is really dependent on the weather.”

—Staff writer Jessica T. Lee can be reached at lee45@fas.harvard.edu.