National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Does El Niño affect the snowfall in Harrisburg, PA?

Here is a look at the raw data from every season from 1949-50 through 2014-15.

Summary:  A glance at the data appears to show little correlation between the warm (El Niño) ENSO phase and snowfall at Harrisburg (see the scatter plot below). However, 5 of the top-ten snowfall seasons have been El Niño winters. La Niña winters do look less snowy on the whole.

ONI vs Seasonal Snowfall at Harrisburg, PA