Friday, February 10, 2012

Where Does This Winter Rank So Far?

I finally checked the numbers from the NCDC (National Climate Data Center) for January across all of Northeastern Ohio. After averaging November and December temperatures and comparing them to all of the winters since the 1895-96 winter, this is where 2011-12 stacks up in the top 10 warmest winters. Each winter's snowfall through January is also included.  Its number 3!

 How about the trends over the last 110+ winters? It seems according to the data that the trend is slightly upward in Northeastern Ohio.

 What does this mean for the rest of winter?

Look at the February temperatures in these winters? Well above normal...

In actuality, the actual temperatures have been even warmer!
How about March in the past years?




Temps stayed above normal in Ohio but they cooled compared to February and January. Notice the below normal temps across the upper Great Plains. A sign of late season colder spells.

If these comparisons are even slightly close to this March, expect temperatures to run closer to normal to slightly above normal which range from 41 on March 1st to 53 on March 31st. As for snow? We will look at those numbers next week.

No comments: