You know it's a weird winter when the city of Atlanta has two inches more snowfall for the season compared to Milwaukee.

Something is just not right. The South was zapped with a wintry mess during the first week of the new year, and then it was the Ohio Valley and the Northeast U.S. getting a blast of winter this past Sunday and Monday. The storm track has been active to the south, and now warmer-than-normal weather is taking over much of the country. Is this the footprint of global warming?

Evidence of a warmer climate is mounting quickly. Consider the local statistics for our hometown. The year 2001 was the tenth warmest year on record, keeping in mind that Milwaukee weather records go back to 1871. Our warmest year on record was 1931. But consider this: of the 10 warmest years in Milwaukee, five have occurred in the past 12 years.

Ten Warmest Years in Milwaukee

1931: 51.9 degrees
1998: 50.9 degrees
1921: 50.7 degrees
1987: 50.2 degrees
1991: 50.0 degrees
1990: 49.9 degrees
1939: 49.8 degrees
1938: 49.5 degrees
1994: 49.4 degrees
2001: 49.2 degrees

The average of 49.2 degrees for this past year is 1.7 degrees warmer-than-normal. While that may not sound like a lot, consider that it is averaged over an entire year.

Something else significant in Milwaukee for the year 2001 was the lack of snow. This past year was the least snowy year on record, with only 9.4 inches falling here since January 1, 2001. This is 40.5 inches below the normal annual snowfall of 49.9 inches. We would have never guessed this record would occur, especially after the record-setting December 2000 snowfall of 49.5 inches! But only 1.3 inches fell in January and 4.2 inches in February, with tiny amounts since then.

The United States saw a much warmer year, too. The average annual temperature is projected to be between 0.9 and 1.3 degrees warmer than normal. This would place it somewhere around the tenth warmest on record. The warmest year on record for the U.S. was just four years ago in 1998.

Global temperatures are expected to be 0.94 degrees above the long-term (1880-2000) average, which places 2001 as the second warmest year on record. The only warmer year globally was 1998.

All of this recent warmth has also led to the lowest water level for the Great Lakes in 35 years. Not enough ice cover in winter means more evaporation possible from the open waters.

Do we see a pattern here? Yes, although keep in mind that a little more than 100 years of weather records is but a brief blink of the eye compared to the life of the planet (4.6 billion years). The last ice age wrapped up around 10,000 years ago. The question remains: is this period of warmth simply an interglacial period, i.e. warmth between ice ages? Or are these warmer temperatures a result of human-induced global warming due to increased carbon dioxide and the greenhouse effect? There are many variables that can change our climate over the long-term. We'll tackle that topic in my next column.

Watch Vince Condella on Fox 6 Sunday through Thursday at 5, 6, 9 and 10 p.m. You can see the FOX 6 weather forecast around the clock at www.fox6milwaukee.com