Saturday, December 29, 2012

Boxing Day Storm Punches Out East Coast Rainfall Records

Images (click to enlarge): New daily precipitation records, December 26-27, 2012, CapitalClimate chart from NWS data; 24-hour precipitation ending 7 am EST, December 27, 2012, from NWS

The strong storm which moved up the East Coast on December 26-27 brought record rainfall amounts from North Carolina to Connecticut. National Climatic Data Center reports show 196 daily precipitation records broken and 7 tied for a total of 203 across the U.S. on the day after Christmas. Among major National Weather Service (NWS) reporting locations, the following list shows the new daily record precipitation amounts and the previous records. (Except for Bridgeport and Islip, all of the records were set on December 26.) The oldest record broken was from 1873 at Wilmington NC. The previous records were set just 3 years ago at Cape Hatteras and Atlantic City. On average, the new records exceeded the old ones by 21%.
Location                        Amount    Old Record
Charlotte NC         CLT         1.72    1.70    1938
Wilmington NC        ILM         1.83    1.43    1873
Cape Hatteras NC     HSE         1.79    1.62    2009
Norfolk VA           ORF         2.53    1.93    1890
Wallops Island VA    WAL         2.33    1.28    1969
Blacksburg VA        RNK         1.01    0.75    1973
Salisbury MD         SBY         1.75    1.70    1969
Washington DC        DCA         1.42    1.31    1943
Washington-Dulles VA IAD         1.41    1.00    1969
Atlantic City NJ     ACY         2.60    2.44    2009
Bridgeport CT        BDR         0.55    0.51    1949 (12-27)
Islip NY             ISP         0.53    0.40    1984 (12-27) 

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Snowiest Christmas on Record at Little Rock, Second Highest All-Time December Amount


Image (click to enlarge) from National Weather Service: "Heavy snow falling at the National Weather Service here in North Little Rock. This image was taken just before 10 pm...looking north towards the rain gauges and upper air shelter (where weather balloons are released) in the background."

December 26, 10 AM Update: The final storm total is 10.3" at both Little Rock and North Little Rock. This is a new all-time December single storm and monthly snowfall record (see list below).

Original post:
The National Weather Service reports 9" of snow on Christmas at Little Rock as of midnight:


(These amounts were later updated by 0.1" each from amounts recorded before 6 pm.)

The 9.0" at Adams Field is more than double the old record of 4.2" for December 25. It is also the second highest for any day in December since Little Rock snowfall records began in 1875.

Through December 24, the month to date average temperature at Little Rock is 53.0°, which is 9.4° above normal. At this rate, this would be the second warmest December on record.

The Little Rock record monthly and daily snowfall amounts for December from the National Weather Service:
TOP 10 SNOWIEST DEC
BY MONTHLY SNOWFALL
1. 1963 - 9.8”
2. 1880 – 7.8”
3. 1932 – 7.1”
4. 1917 - 6.6”
5. 1960 - 6.0”
6. 1914 - 6.0”
7. 1876 – 6.0”
8. 1958 - 5.0”
9. 1926 – 4.2”
10.1898 - 4.0”
NORMAL – 0.2”

TOP 10 SNOWIEST DAYS IN DEC
BY DAILY SNOWFALL
1. 22 DEC 1963 - 9.8" 6. 25 DEC 1926 – 4.2"
2. 31 DEC 1960 – 6.0" 7. 04 DEC 1898 – 4.0"
3. 12 DEC 1914 – 6.0" 8. 28 DEC 1876 – 4.0"
4. 19 DEC 1880 – 5.8" 9. 08 DEC 1917 – 3.5"
5. 16 DEC 1932 - 5.5" 10. 22 DEC 2004 – 3.3" 

Oklahoma City Christmas Snowfall 2nd Highest on Record


The 0.6" of snow which fell at Oklahoma City on December 25 was the second highest amount ever recorded there on Christmas. It was, however, only 10% of the 6.5" nearly a century ago in 1914. The monthly average temperature for December to date at Oklahoma City is 46.7°, which is 5.6° above normal.

The list of Christmas snowfalls and amounts on the ground at Oklahoma City, from the National Weather Service:
Years with Snowfall   Snow on Ground
on Christmas Day      on Christmas Morning    
1913 Trace            1913  Trace
1914 6.5 inches       1914  6 inches
1937 Trace            1918  5 inches
1938 Trace            1939  Trace
1939 0.3 inches       1943  1 inch
1948 Trace            1962  Trace
1952 Trace            1975  1 inch
1962 Trace            1983  Trace
1975 0.5 inches       1987  Trace
1987 Trace            1990  Trace
2000 Trace            2002  2 inches
                 2009  14 inches 

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Washington on Track for Second Consecutive Top-10 Warmest December


January 2 Update: Temperatures continued to exceed forecasts through the end of the month. The final average was 45.3°, which was 5.6° above normal. The 31st, at 1° cooler than average, was only the 3rd day all month with temperatures below average.

December 29 Update: Warmer-than-forecast temperatures have pushed the projected December average to 45.2°, displacing 2011 as the 6th warmest on record (chart updated).

Original post:
As of today, the month-to-date average temperature for Washington DC is a toasty (for December) 47.0°. Even with forecast temperatures averaging near seasonal normals for the remaining 6 days of the month, the projected monthly average of 45.0° should be enough to tie with last year for the 6th warmest December since records began in 1870. As noted earlier, the warm December will close out a record warm year by what is virtually guaranteed to be a huge margin.

Seasonal Outlook

Latest seasonal forecast: Click here.


Latest 3-month temperature outlook from Climate Prediction Center/NWS/NOAA.