It didn't feel like it last week, but data shows winter is warming quicker than any other season in Florida. And out of 10 cities analyzed across the state, Tampa's winter is getting hotter fastest.
Global warming is being accelerated by the burning of fossil fuels, which releases heat-trapping gasses into the atmosphere.
The nonprofit Climate Central looked at federal temperature data since the 1970s.
Kaitlyn Trudeau, the lead analyst, said Florida's winter has warmed by 2.9 degrees Fahrenheit over the past 55 years.
RELATED: The science behind why Florida has seen more snow than Alaska this winter
"There are a lot of species who can't really take that heat," Trudeau said. "There's a wide range of impacts on our health. So, as it stays warmer earlier and longer, we see a much larger spread of disease and pests, things like mosquitoes. And there are really big impacts on the economy."
Tampa’s winter has warmed by 5 degrees. Tallahassee came in second at 4.2 degrees, followed by Sarasota at 4.1 degrees, Miami at 4 degrees, Pensacola at 3.9 degrees, Fort Myers-Naples at 3.8 degrees, West Palm Beach at 3.8 degrees, Jacksonville at 3.3 degrees, Orlando at 3.3 degrees and Gainesville at 0.9 degrees.
Gainesville was the only Florida city out of 10 that Trudeau analyzed which had summer as the fastest warming season with winter as a very close second.
Florida’s fall came warmed at a rate of 2.62 degrees, followed by summer at 2.59 degrees, and spring at 2.18 degrees.
Trudeau used information from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Regional Climate Centers for the city-level data, while using NOAA/NCEI's Climate at a Glance for the state data. She then calculated the average seasonal temperatures using linear regression.
But what about the recent snowfall?
You might be surprised to find out that snow falling on the panhandle last week was actually a symptom of global warming.
“It's the extremes we expect more often — shifting from one extreme to another, sometimes very rapidly,” said Bob Bunting, with the nonprofit Climate Adaptation Center.
The jet streams, which keep the cold air up around the North Pole, have become weaker as the Arctic warms up — that allows cold air to sink further south.
“Along the boundary where it was moving south, it created a record snowstorm from New Orleans all across northern Florida, and in fact, in places in the panhandle of northern Florida, there were record snows,” he said.
Kaitlyn Trudeau said the cold snap was "weather" which is more immediate, while "climate" is a trend over time.
"Yes, it might be really cold this year, you might be seeing record cold temperatures, but that's weather, and it's not climate,” she said.
“But if you look at the daily extremes that have been set across the globe, overwhelmingly, we have seen a massive number of them be the hot temperatures, not the cold temperatures.”
Trudeau said she hopes her analysis will help empower people to make better, informed decisions.
“Because every single person on this planet has something that they care about that's being negatively impacted by climate change, and so as we continue to see more warming, and we move into the future with more extremes … we really want people to understand the connection here and that we will continue to be more negatively impacted if we don't dramatically reduce our carbon emissions,” said Trudeau.
