Friday, February 18, 2011

Record Temperatures Reach Mid-Atlantic;
120-Year Washington, Baltimore Minimums Broken

Feb. 18 Update: Added more reports for Ohio, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina.

Midnight Update: The midnight temperatures are: National 59°, Dulles 55°, and BWI 55°, so the record high minimums hold.

Quantico and College Park are still at 60° and 61°, respectively. On the Maryland Eastern Shore, Ocean City is a summer-like 65°, and Salisbury is 63°.

The National Climatic Data Center preliminary report shows nearly 200 new record highs on Feb. 18 alone. Following a similar number the previous day, the month-to-date count is now almost tied with record lows.

6 PM Update: Nearly all major National Weather Service reporting locations in Pennsylvania tied or broke high temperature records (see list below). Reports to be added as available.

Original post:
Temperatures soared into the 70s for the second consecutive time today in the DMV (DC/Maryland/Virginia) region. The highs of 77° at Washington National and 75° at Dulles were both new records, and the 74° at Baltimore/BWI missed the record by only 1°. The Washington high is 30° above normal.

In addition, the morning lows were all new record high minimums. Assuming they hold through midnight, which appears to be likely, the minimums will break 120-year-old records.

Note that these record high February temperatures, which follow a record hot summer, broke records which followed the previously warmest summer of 1980.

The new records (old records and dates in parentheses) are:
                     High           Low
Washington National 77 (76, 1981) 52 (50, 1891)
Washington Dulles 75 (73, 1981) 53 (50, 1976)
Baltimore/BWI 51 (50, 1891)
More records set or tied in other states:
Zanesville OH    66 (64, 2006)
Youngstown OH 59 (tie, 1994)
Greenville SC 78 (73, 1916)
Raleigh NC 78 (75, 1948)
Greensboro NC 75 (71, 2008)
Charlotte NC 78 (tie, 1891)
Richmond VA 77 (tie, 1976)
Wallops Is. VA 73 (64, 1986)
Danville VA 77 (tie, 1976)
Lynchburg VA 75 (tie, 1927)
Blacksburg VA 65 (tie, 1976)
Roanoke VA 72 (tie, 1971)
Pittsburgh PA 66 (65, 1981)
Williamsport PA 66 (63, 1981)
Harrisburg PA 69 (tie, 1890)
Allentown PA 67 (66, 2008)
Philadelphia PA 69 (tie, 1891, 1890)
Reading PA 71 (70, 1981)
Atlantic City NJ 72 (69, 1981)
Trenton NJ 72 (tie, 1890)
Newark NJ 71 (69, 1981)
Kennedy Airpt NY 67 (57, 1981)
LaGuardia NY 67 (66, 1981)
Binghamton NY 58 (57, 1981)
Image (click to enlarge): U.S. surface temperature map at 3 pm EST, February 18, 2011, shows 70° readings as far north as the Mason-Dixon line (from Unisys)

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