Climatological Report (Seasonal)
Issued by NWS
Issued by NWS
000 CXUS51 KGYX 221410 CLSMHT PWMCLSMHT 000 TTAA00 GYX 221406 CLIMATE REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAY ME 1005 AM EDT WED JUN 22 2022 ................................... ...THE MANCHESTER CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE WINTER SEASON, FROM 12/1/2021 TO 2/28/2022... CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD: 1991 TO 2020 CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD: 1885 TO 2022 WEATHER OBSERVED NORMAL DEPART LAST YEAR`S VALUE DATE(S) VALUE FROM VALUE DATE(S) NORMAL ................................................................ TEMPERATURE (F) HIGHEST 68 02/23 62 6 64 12/01 LOWEST -3 01/31 -5 2 4 01/31 12/19 02/10 AVG. MAXIMUM 38.8 36.9 1.9 37.1 AVG. MINIMUM 21.1 19.9 1.2 22.8 MEAN 30.0 28.4 1.6 29.9 DAYS MAX >= 90 0 0.0 0.0 0 DAYS MAX <= 32 24 30.2 -6.2 26 DAYS MIN <= 32 77 80.6 -3.6 82 DAYS MIN <= 0 3 3.7 -0.7 0 PRECIPITATION (INCHES) TOTALS 9.34 8.46 0.88 9.18 DAILY AVG. 0.11 0.09 0.02 0.10 DAYS >= .01 32 30.2 1.8 25 DAYS >= .10 22 17.4 4.6 15 DAYS >= .50 5 5.7 -0.7 5 DAYS >= 1.00 1 1.2 -0.2 3 GREATEST 24 HR. TOTAL 1.91 02/03 TO 02/04 SNOWFALL (INCHES) TOTALS 37.4 44.9 SINCE 7/1 37.5 47.4 DAYS >= TRACE 23 37 DAYS >= 1.0 7 11 GREATEST SNOW DEPTH 9 01/30 10 12/18 DEGREE DAYS HEATING TOTAL 3135 3293 -158 3128 SINCE 7/1 4083 4509 -426 4176 COOLING TOTAL 0 0 0 0 SINCE 1/1 0 0 0 0 ................................................................ WIND (MPH) AVERAGE WIND SPEED 7.3 HIGHEST WIND SPEED/DIRECTION 33/300 DATE 02/18 HIGHEST GUST SPEED/DIRECTION 44/310 DATE 12/06 SKY COVER AVERAGE SKY COVER 0.65 AVERAGE RH (PERCENT) 62 WEATHER CONDITIONS. NUMBER OF DAYS WITH THUNDERSTORM 0 HEAVY RAIN 4 RAIN 8 LIGHT RAIN 27 FREEZING RAIN 1 LT FREEZING RAIN 6 HEAVY SNOW 5 SNOW 5 LIGHT SNOW 25 FOG 35 FOG W/VIS <= 1/4 MILE 7 HAZE 10 - INDICATES NEGATIVE NUMBERS. R INDICATES RECORD WAS SET OR TIED. MM INDICATES DATA IS MISSING. T INDICATES TRACE AMOUNT. && WINTER GOT OFF TO MILD START WITH TEMPERATURES AVERAGING WELL ABOVE NORMAL THROUGH THE FIRST HALF OF DECEMBER THANKS TO HIGH TEMPERATURES REACHING THE 60 DEGREE MARK A COUPLE OF TIMES AND SEVERAL NIGHTS WHERE THE TEMPERATURE DID NOT DROP BELOW FREEZING. THIS MILD START TO WINTER CAN BE ATTRIBUTED TO A PERSISTENT RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE SOUTHEAST US THAT OFTEN EXTENDED INTO NEW ENGLAND. THIS RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE OFTEN FORMS OVER THE SOUTHEAST US DURING LA NINA WINTERS WITH THIS PAST WINTER FEATURING MODERATE LA NINA CONDITIONS IN THE TROPICAL PACIFIC. THE MILD WEATHER PATTERN TURNED MORE WINTRY AFTER A STRONG COLD FRONT CROSSED THE AREA ON DECEMBER 17TH. ON DECEMBER 18TH TO 19TH LOW PRESSURE TRACKED ACROSS SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND BRINGING SNOW THAT CHANGED TO A WINTRY MIX AND THEN BACK TO SNOW. THIS SYSTEM BROUGHT THE FIRST APPRECIABLE SNOWFALL OF THE SEASON WITH TOTAL OF 4.9 INCHES. TEMPERATURES REMAINED COLD ENOUGH THEREAFTER TO PRESERVE THE SNOWPACK INTO CHRISTMAS. ON CHRISTMAS DAY THERE WAS AN ICY WINTRY MIX THAT ENDED AS SOME SNOW CHRISTMAS NIGHT. TEMPERATURES THEN TRENDED ABOVE NORMAL THROUGH THE END OF THE YEAR INTO THE FIRST COUPLE OF DAYS OF JANUARY. THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF JANUARY TEMPERATURES OSCILLATED BETWEEN BELOW NORMAL AND ABOVE NORMAL WITH A COUPLE OF LIGHT SNOW EVENTS AS THE WEATHER PATTERN ACROSS NORTH AMERICA STARTED TO UNDERGO A TRANSITION. THIS TRANSITION WAS RELATED TO THE PACIFIC NORTH AMERICAN PATTERN SHIFTING TO ITS POSITIVE PHASE AFTER BEING IN ITS NEGATIVE PHASE DURING DECEMBER INTO EARLY JANUARY. THIS SHIFT TO A +PNA LED TO A PERSISTENT RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE ACROSS WESTERN NORTH AMERICA WITH A DEEP TROUGH OVER THE EASTERN CONUS THROUGH THE END OF JANUARY. THE DEEP TROUGH OVER THE EASTERN CONUS ALLOWED TEMPERATURES TO AVERAGE BELOW NORMAL FOR THE MONTH OF JANUARY AND IT PRODUCED A POWERFUL OCEAN STORM ON JANUARY 29TH THAT BROUGHT THE MANCHESTER AREA ITS GREATEST SNOWFALL FOR WINTER WITH 9.3 INCHES. GOING INTO FEBRUARY THE RIDGE OVER THE SOUTHEAST US REDEVELOPED AND REMAINED A DOMINANT FEATURE THROUGH THE END OF WINTER. MILD SOUTHWEST FLOW AROUND THE RIDGE BROUGHT SEVERAL WARM SPELLS TO THE MANCHESTER AREA WITH TEMPERATURES ECLIPSING THE 60 DEGREE MARK THREE TIMES IN FEBRUARY WITH THE WARMEST DAY OF WINTER OCCURRING ON FEBRUARY 23RD WHEN THE HIGH TEMPERATURE WAS 68 DEGREES. ANOTHER DOMINANT FEATURE ON THE NORTH AMERICAN WEATHER MAP DURING FEBRUARY WAS A PERSISTENT TROUGH OVER CENTRAL CANADA. AS NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND WAS POSITIONED BETWEEN A RIDGE OVER THE SOUTHEAST US AND A TROUGH OVER CENTRAL CANADA THE STORM TRACK HAD A TENDENCY TO CUT ACROSS THE AREA WITH SYSTEMS BRINGING A VARIETY OF PRECIPITATION TYPES IN FEBRUARY. THE MOST SIGNIFICANT PRECIPITATION EVENT OF THE WINTER OCCURRED ON FEBRUARY 3RD TO 4TH WHEN WAVES OF LOW PRESSURE TRACKED ALONG A COLD FRONT THAT SLOWLY SANK SOUTH THROUGH NEW ENGLAND AND THEN STALLED NEAR THE LATITUDE OF MANCHESTER. THIS SET UP LED TO A PERIOD OF RAIN ON THE 3RD THAT THEN CHANGED OVER TO SLEET ON THE 4TH WITH A LIQUID EQUIVALENT STORM TOTAL OF 2.01 INCHES. SYSTEMS THAT THEN CROSSED THE AREA THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF FEBRUARY WERE PRIMARILY RAIN PRODUCERS WHICH RESULTED IN LITTLE TO NO SNOW ON THE GROUND UNTIL A SNOWSTORM BROUGHT 7.0 INCHES ON FEBRUARY 25TH. THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR WINTER WAS 30.0 DEGREES, WHICH WAS 1.6 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. THE WARMEST WINTER WAS IN 2015-16 WHEN THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE WAS 33.7 DEGREES. THE COLDEST WAS IN 1947-48 WHEN IT WAS 19.3 DEGREES. A TOTAL OF 9.34 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION FELL, WHICH WAS 0.88 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL. THE HEAVIEST PRECIPITATION FELL FEBRUARY 3RD AND 4TH WITH A STORM TOTAL 2.01 INCHES OF LIQUID EQUIVALENT PRECIPITATION. THE WETTEST WINTER WAS IN 1886-87 WHEN 15.41 INCHES WAS RECORDED. THE DRIEST WAS IN 1930-31 WHEN ONLY 5.56 INCHES FELL. THERE WAS 36.4 INCHES OF SNOWFALL FOR THE WINTER SEASON. THE HEAVIEST SNOW WAS ON JANUARY 29TH WHEN 9.3 INCHES WAS MEASURED. HISTORICAL RECORDS AT MANCHESTER BEGAN IN 1885, BUT WITHIN THIS RECORD THERE REMAIN NUMEROUS YEARS OF UNAVAILABLE DATA. DUE TO THIS, HISTORICAL RECORDS SHOULD BE CONSIDERED INCOMPLETE AS SOME SIGNIFICANT EXTREMES MAY BE MISSING FROM THE DATA. MORE CONSISTENT MODERN RECORDS BEGAN IN 1998 AND CONTINUE TO THE PRESENT. $$ DS