577 CXUS51 KGYX 090751 CLSPWM PORTLAND CLIMATE DATA FOR THE WINTER OF 2012/13 NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAY ME 100 AM EST SAT MAR 9 2013 HERE IS A SEASONAL SUMMARY FOR THE METEOROLOGICAL WINTER (DECEMBER...JANUARY...FEBRUARY) OF 2012/13 FOR PORTLAND, MAINE. THE METEOROLOGICAL WINTER OF 2012-2013 IN PORTLAND WAS MUCH WARMER YET MUCH SNOWIER THAN NORMAL. THE HIGHLIGHT EVENT OF THIS PAST WINTER WAS THE BLIZZARD ON FEBRUARY 8TH AND 9TH THAT LEFT A RECORD 31.9 INCHES OF SNOW IN PORTLAND. THE 31.9 INCHES BROKE THE OLD RECORD FOR A SINGLE STORM OF 27.1 INCHES FROM THE SNOWSTORM OF JANUARY 17TH AND 18TH IN 1979. STRONG WINDS FROM THE NORTH...WITH GUSTS TOPPING OUT AT 56 MPH... CREATED BLIZZARD CONDITIONS WITH CONSIDERABLE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW AND VERY LOW VISIBILITIES. IN ADDITION TO PRODUCING THE BIGGEST SNOWFALL IN RECORDED HISTORY THE BLIZZARD ALSO GAVE PORTLAND ITS GREATEST 24 HOUR SNOWFALL. FROM 7 AM ON THE 8TH THROUGH 7 AM ON THE 9TH PORTLAND RECEIVED 25.9 INCHES OF SNOW. THIS BROKE THE OLD RECORD OF 24.4 INCHES FROM THE SAME JANUARY 17-18TH, 1979 WINTER STORM. ALTOGETHER FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY PORTLAND HAD 49.6 INCHES OF SNOW. THIS BECAME THE 3RD SNOWIEST FEBRUARY AND THE 8TH SNOWIEST MONTH EVER IN PORTLAND. THE SNOWIEST FEBRUARY REMAINS 61.2 INCHES IN 1969...FOLLOWED BY 50.9 INCHES IN 1893. THE SNOWIEST MONTH EVER WAS JANUARY 1979 WITH 62.4 INCHES. THE 49.6 INCHES OF SNOW IN FEBRUARY WAS MORE THAN FOUR TIMES THE NORMAL FEBRUARY SNOWFALL. NORMALLY PORTLAND CAN EXPECT JUST 12.1 INCHES OF SNOW IN FEBRUARY. DECEMBER WAS ALSO A VERY SNOWY MONTH WITH 24.8 INCHES OF SNOW WHICH WAS NEARLY A FOOT (11.6 INCHES) ABOVE NORMAL. ONLY JANUARY, WITH JUST 7.3 INCHES HAD BELOW NORMAL SNOWFALL. FOR THE THREE MONTHS PORTLAND ENDED UP WITH 81.7 INCHES OF SNOW WHICH WAS 37.3 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL. THIS WAS THE 11TH SNOWIEST METEOROLOGICAL WINTER IN THE PAST 132 YEARS. ALONG WITH THE ABOVE NORMAL SNOWFALL PORTLAND ALSO HAD ABOVE NORMAL PRECIPITATION (COMBINED RAINFALL AND MELTED SNOWFALL). PRECIPITATION IN DECEMBER AND FEBRUARY WERE WELL ABOVE NORMAL WHILE JANUARY WAS WELL BELOW NORMAL. FOR THE SEASON PORTLAND RECORDED 15.73 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION. THIS WAS 5.08 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL AND RANKS AS THE 14TH WETTEST IN 142 YEARS. PORTLAND RECORDED 8.30 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION IN DECEMBER. THIS WAS MORE THAN DOUBLE THE NORMAL RAINFALL AS THE 8.30 INCHES WAS 4.28 INCHES ABOVE THE NORMAL OF 4.02 INCHES. THIS WAS THE 4TH WETTEST DECEMBER ON RECORD...FALLING SHORT OF THE RECORD 9.69 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION IN DECEMBER OF 1969. JANUARY CAME IN WITH 1.36 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION WHICH WAS TWO INCHES (2.02 INCHES) BELOW NORMAL. THIS WAS THE 11TH DRIEST JANUARY ON RECORD. FEBRUARY FOLLOWED WITH OVER SIX INCHES (6.07 INCHES) OF PRECIPITATION WHICH WAS NEARLY THREE INCHES (2.82 INCHES) ABOVE NORMAL. THIS WAS THE 13TH WETTEST FEBRUARY IN THE PAST 142 YEARS. THE WETTEST 24 HOUR PERIOD WAS FROM DECEMBER 17TH TO THE 18TH WITH THREE AND A HALF INCHES (3.52 INCHES) OF RAIN. NEARLY ALL OF THIS RAIN (3.50 INCHES) FELL ON JUST ONE DAY. THIS SET A RECORD RAINFALL FOR DECEMBER 18TH...EXACTLY DOUBLING THE OLD RECORD OF 1.75 INCHES SET WAY BACK IN 1888. EACH MONTH WAS WARMER THAN NORMAL PRODUCING AN ABOVE NORMAL WINTER WITH AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 28.5 DEGREES. THIS WAS 2.9 DEGREES ABOVE THE NORMAL AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THE METEOROLOGICAL WINTER AND IS THE 7TH WARMEST ON RECORD. THE HIGH TEMPERATURE FOR THE WINTER WAS 59 DEGREES ON JANUARY 14TH. FOR THE THREE MONTHS PORTLAND HAD SEVEN DAYS WITH HIGHS OF 50 OR WARMER...FOUR IN DECEMBER, THREE IN JANUARY AND NONE IN FEBRUARY. THE LOW FOR THE WINTER WAS MINUS 4 DEGREES ON JANUARY 24TH. FOR THE THREE MONTH PERIOD THERE WERE ONLY THREE DAYS OF ZERO OR COLDER. THE OTHER TWO DAYS WERE LOWS OF EXACTLY ZERO AND OCCURRED IN JANUARY. THE WEATHER FOR THIS PAST WINTER WAS ALSO HIGHLIGHTED BY THE OCCASIONAL EXTREMELY WINDY DAY. EACH MONTH HAD A PEAK WIND GUST OF 50 MPH OR HIGHER. FOR THE WINTER THERE WERE FOUR DAYS WITH GUSTS OF 50 MPH OR HIGHER. THEY WERE 56 MPH ON FEBRUARY 9TH DURING THE BLIZZARD, 54 MPH ON DECEMBER 21ST, 50 MPH ON JANUARY 31ST AND 50 MPH ON FEBRUARY 17TH. HERE IS A TABULAR SUMMARY OF WINTER 2012-2013 IN PORTLAND MAINE. DEC JAN FEB WINTER 2012/13 ...TEMPERATURES... AVERAGE TEMPERATURE 32.0 25.4 28.1 28.5 30 YEAR NORMAL 28.8 22.3 25.5 25.6 DEPARTURE PLUS 3.2 PLUS 3.1 PLUS 2.6 PLUS 2.9 RANK (1 THROUGH 73) 10TH (T) 17TH 13TH 7TH (1 = WARMEST) HIGHEST TEMPERATURE 55 59 45 59 - JAN 14TH LOWEST TEMPERATURE 11 -4 9 -4 - JAN 24TH ...PRECIPITATION... MEASURED (INCHES) 8.30 1.36 6.07 15.73 30 YEAR NORMAL 4.02 3.38 3.25 10.65 DEPARTURE PLUS 4.28 MINUS 2.02 PLUS 2.82 PLUS 5.08 RANK (1 THROUGH 142) 4TH 133RD 13TH 14TH (1 = WETTEST) GREATEST RAINFALL IN ANY 24-HOUR PERIOD 3.52 0.60 2.30 3.52 - DEC 17-18TH ...SNOWFALL DATA... MEASURED (INCHES) 24.8 7.3 49.6 81.7 30 YEAR NORMAL 13.2 19.2 12.0 44.4 DEPARTURE PLUS 11.6 MINUS 11.9 PLUS 37.6 PLUS 37.3 RANK (1 THROUGH 132) 116TH (T) 115TH 3RD 11TH (1 = SNOWIEST) GREATEST SNOWFALL (INCHES) IN ANY 24-HOUR PERIOD 11.6 5.1 25.9 25.9 - FEB 8-9TH ...DEGREE DAY DATA... HEATING DEGREE DAYS 1013 1221 1028 3262 NORMAL 1121 1324 1106 3551 DEPARTURE MINUS 108 MINUS 103 MINUS 78 MINUS 289 COOLING DEGREE DAYS 0 0 0 0 NORMAL 0 0 0 0 DEPARTURE NONE NONE NONE NONE ...WIND... AVERAGE SPEED 7.7 MPH 7.8 MPH 9.8 MPH 8.4 MPH NORMAL 8.8 MPH 9.2 MPH 9.4 MPH 9.1 MPH DEPARTURE -1.1 MPH -1.4 MPH 0.4 MPH -0.7 MPH HIGHEST WIND GUST 54 MPH 50 MPH 56 MPH 56 MPH - FEB 9TH ...SEA LEVEL PRESSURE... HIGHEST (IN INCHES) 30.68 30.53 30.56 30.68 - DEC 1ST LOWEST (IN INCHES) 29.09 28.85 29.22 28.85 - JAN 31ST WINTER 2012/13 NORMAL DEPARTURE ...NUMBER OF DAYS WITH... MAX TEMPERATURE 90 OR WARMER 0 0 NONE MAX TEMPERATURE 32 OR COLDER 31 35.0 MINUS 4.0 MIN TEMPERATURE 32 OR COLDER 82 82.6 MINUS 0.6 MIN TEMPERATURE 0 OR COLDER 3 6.6 MINUS 3.6 THUNDERSTORMS 0 0.2 MINUS 0.2 DENSE FOG (VSBY < 1/4 MI) 12 6.3 PLUS 5.7 PCPN 0.01 INCH OR MORE 36 32.3 PLUS 3.7 PCPN 1.00 INCH OR MORE 6 2.8 PLUS 3.2 SNOWFALL TRACE OR MORE 32 20.1 PLUS 11.9 SNOWFALL 1 INCH OR MORE 13 11.5 PLUS 1.5 SNOWFALL 6 INCHES OR MORE 5 N/A WARMEST WINTER .......... 31.3 DEGREES IN 2001/02 COLDEST WINTER .......... 17.9 DEGREES IN 1970/71 WETTEST WINTER .......... 20.49 INCHES IN 1934/35 DRIEST WINTER ........... 4.12 INCHES IN 1871/72 SNOWIEST WINTER ......... 107.6 INCHES IN 1970/71 LEAST SNOWIEST WINTER ... 9.5 INCHES IN 1936/37 NOTE...THE METEOROLOGICAL WINTER REFERS TO DECEMBER - JANUARY - FEBRUARY TOTALS ONLY. ...RECORDS... HERE IS A LIST OF DAILY RECORDS SET OR TIED THIS WINTER... DATE RECORD PREVIOUS RECORD DEC 1 3 - SMALLEST DAILY TEMP. RANGE 4 DEGREES IN 1969 DEC 8 5 - SMALLEST DAILY TEMP. RANGE 6 DEGREES IN 1952 & 1971 DEC 16 4 - SMALLEST DAILY TEMP. RANGE 4 DEGREES IN 1948 & 1995 /TIED/ DEC 18 3.50 - GREATEST PRECIPITATION 1.75 INCHES IN 1888 DEC 19 36 - WARMEST LOW TEMPERATURE 36 DEGREES IN 1996 /TIED/ DEC 19 3 - SMALLEST DAILY TEMP. RANGE 4 DEGREES IN 1959 DEC 27 11.6 - GREATEST SNOWFALL 8.8 INCHES IN 1894 JAN 3 36 - WARMEST LOW TEMPERATURE 34 DEGREES IN 1956 JAN 13 41 - WARMEST AVERAGE TEMPERATURE 37 DEGREES IN 1956 & 2002 JAN 14 59 - WARMEST HIGH TEMPERATURE 53 DEGREES IN 1950 & 2005 JAN 14 47 - WARMEST AVERAGE TEMPERATURE 47 DEGREES IN 2006 /TIED/ JAN 23 8 - COLDEST HIGH TEMPERATURE 9 DEGREES IN 1976 JAN 30 52 - WARMEST HIGH TEMPERATURE 49 DEGREES IN 1959 JAN 30 42 - WARMEST AVERAGE TEMPERATURE 40 DEGREES IN 1974 JAN 31 54 - WARMEST HIGH TEMPERATURE 54 DEGREES IN 1988 /TIED/ FEB 8 15.3 - HIGHEST DAILY SNOWFALL 10.8 INCHES IN 1971 FEB 24 10.7 - HIGHEST DAILY SNOWFALL 9.9 INCHES IN 1962 $$ SJC