483 CXUS51 KGYX 090752 CLSGYX GRAY CLIMATE DATA FOR THE WINTER OF 2012/13 NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAY ME 145 AM EST SAT MAR 9 2013 THIS IS A SEASONAL SUMMARY FOR THE METEOROLOGICAL WINTER (DECEMBER...JANUARY ...FEBRUARY) OF 2012/13 FOR GRAY, MAINE. THE METEOROLOGICAL WINTER OF 2012-2013 IN GRAY, MAINE WAS MUCH SNOWIER YET MUCH WARMER THAN NORMAL. THE HIGHLIGHT FOR THIS WINTER WAS THE BLIZZARD OF 2013 WHICH GAVE GRAY ITS BIGGEST SNOWSTORM ON RECORD. THE STORM DUMPED OVER TWO FEET (26.8 INCHES) OF SNOW WHICH TOPPED THE PREVIOUS BIGGEST SNOWSTORM OF 18.0 INCHES SET ON DECEMBER 25TH AND 26TH OF 2002. FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY GRAY RECORDED 49.3 INCHES OF SNOW. THIS SET A NEW RECORD FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY...TOPPING THE OLD RECORD OF 45.5 INCHES SET IN 2008. THIS IS THE 2ND SNOWIEST MONTH EVER IN GRAY...FALLING WELL SHORT OF THE RECORD 58.3 INCHES SET IN MARCH 2001. IT SHOULD BE POINTED OUT THAT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST OFFICE IN GRAY HAS ONLY 18 YEARS OF WEATHER RECORDS. DECEMBER ALSO HAD ABOVE NORMAL SNOWFALL WITH 21.4 INCHES. THIS WAS 3.1 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL. JANUARY HAD VERY LITTLE SNOWFALL WITH JUST 6.5 INCHES. THIS WAS MORE THAN A FOOT (14.7 INCHES) BELOW NORMAL. HOWEVER, DUE TO THE VERY SNOWY FEBRUARY WHICH HAD 32.8 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL SNOWFALL THE METEOROLOGICAL WINTER ENDED UP WITH 77.2 INCHES OF SNOW WHICH WAS 21.2 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL. THIS WINTER ALSO HAD ABOVE NORMAL PRECIPITATION (COMBINED RAINFALL AND MELTED SNOWFALL). THE 11.99 INCHES WAS ABOUT AN INCH (1.09 INCHES) ABOVE NORMAL. DECEMBER, WITH 6.69 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION, AND FEBRUARY, WITH 4.15 INCHES, WERE BOTH ABOVE NORMAL WHILE JANUARY, WITH JUST 1.15 INCHES, WAS THE ONLY MONTH WITH BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION. THE 1.15 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION IN JANUARY ALSO TIED APRIL OF 2001 AS THE 7TH DRIEST MONTH EVER AT THE GRAY OBSERVATION SITE. THE DRIEST MONTH ON RECORD WAS 0.16 INCHES IN AUGUST OF 1996. GRAY HAD A WARMER THAN NORMAL WINTER BY 1.7 DEGREES WITH A THREE MONTH AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 26.0 DEGREES. ALL THREE WINTER MONTHS WERE WARMER THAN NORMAL WITH DECEMBER AND JANUARY COMING IN 2.1 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL WHILE FEBRUARY WAS 0.8 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. THE HIGH FOR THE SEASON WAS 57 DEGREES ON JANUARY 14TH. THERE WERE FOUR DAYS WITH HIGHS OF 50 OR WARMER THIS WINTER...TWO IN DECEMBER, TWO IN JANUARY AND NONE IN FEBRUARY. THE LOW FOR THE SEASON WAS MINUS 7 DEGREES ON JANUARY 23RD AND 24TH. THERE WAS ONLY ONE OTHER DAY WITH A LOW OF ZERO OR COLDER...THAT WAS A ZERO DEGREE LOW ON JANUARY 25TH. HERE IS A TABULAR SUMMARY OF WINTER 2012-2013 IN GRAY MAINE. ...TEMPERATURES... DEC. JAN. FEB. WINTER 2012/13 AVERAGE TEMPERATURE 29.4 23.1 25.5 26.0 30 YEAR NORMAL 27.3 21.0 24.7 24.3 DEPARTURE PLUS 2.1 PLUS 2.1 PLUS 0.8 PLUS 1.7 HIGHEST TEMPERATURE 54 57 45 57 - JAN 14TH LOWEST TEMPERATURE 12 -7 6 -7 - JAN 23RD & 24TH ...PRECIPITATION... MEASURED (INCHES) 6.69 1.15 4.15 11.99 30 YEAR NORMAL 4.06 3.53 3.31 10.90 DEPARTURE PLUS 2.63 MINUS 2.38 PLUS 0.84 PLUS 1.09 GREATEST RAINFALL IN ANY 24-HOUR PERIOD 1.78 0.45 1.23 1.78 - DEC 18-19TH ...SNOWFALL DATA... MEASURED (INCHES) 21.4 6.5 49.3 77.2 30 YEAR NORMAL 18.3 21.2 16.5 56.0 DEPARTURE PLUS 3.1 MINUS 14.7 PLUS 32.8 PLUS 21.2 GREATEST SNOWFALL (INCHES) IN ANY 24-HOUR PERIOD 9.0 4.4 23.5 23.5 - FEB 8-9TH ...DEGREE DAY DATA... HEATING DEGREE DAYS 1100 1291 1100 3491 30 YEAR NORMAL 1169 1364 1128 3661 DEPARTURE MINUS 69 MINUS 73 MINUS 28 MINUS 170 COOLING DEGREE DAYS 0 0 0 0 30 YEAR NORMAL 0 0 0 0 DEPARTURE NONE NONE NONE NONE ...NUMBER OF DAYS DURING WINTER WITH... WINTER 2012/13 NORMAL DEPARTURE MAX TEMPERATURE 90 OR WARMER 0 0.0 NONE MAX TEMPERATURE 32 OR COLDER 36 43.1 MINUS 7.1 MIN TEMPERATURE 32 OR COLDER 87 85.2 PLUS 1.8 MIN TEMPERATURE 0 OR COLDER 3 6.4 MINUS 3.4 0.01 INCH OR MORE PCPN 39 32.3 PLUS 6.7 1.00 INCH OR MORE PCPN 2 3.0 MINUS 1.0 SNOWFALL TRACE OR MORE 42 23.6 PLUS 18.4 SNOWFALL 1 INCH OR MORE 13 13.9 MINUS 0.9 SNOWFALL 6 INCHES OR MORE 4 N/A NOTE...THE METEOROLOGICAL WINTER REFERS TO DECEMBER - JANUARY - FEBRUARY TOTALS ONLY. IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT WEATHER RECORDS IN GRAY ARE LIMITED...GOING BACK ONLY 18 YEARS...BEGINNING IN OCTOBER OF 1995. $$ SJC