Recent Winter Temperatures - Northern Ohio/Midwest/US (Part I)

We start off with last winter's temperatures vs normal across North America. Little sign of any cold although early February showed some signs in the central US.

Winter 2019-2020 (Dec-Jan-Feb) North America

US temperature anomalies (standarized) show a similar story month to month

Winter 2019-2020 (Dec-Jan-Feb) US Climate Divisions

Here are the previous 5 winters (Dec-Jan-Feb) for comparison.

WINTER 2018-19

WINTER 2017-18

WINTER 2016-17

WINTER 2015-16

WINTER 2014-15

As for the midwest and Ohio Valley, last winter's temperatures ranked in the top 15 warmest ever across Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky and Pennsylvania with top 20-30 warmest further west.

WINTER 2019-2020 LOCAL TEMPERATURE RANKS

Here are the previous 5 winters (Dec-Jan-Feb) for comparison. Numbers indicate local climate division rank (1 is warmest. 128 is coldest)

WINTER 2018-2019 LOCAL TEMPERATURE RANKS 

WINTER 2017-2018 LOCAL TEMPERATURE RANKS

WINTER 2016-2017 LOCAL TEMPERATURE RANKS

WINTER 2015-2016 LOCAL TEMPERATURE RANKS

WINTER 2014-2015 LOCAL TEMPERATURE RANKS

Looking across Ohio, the overall temperatures are similar. There are 10 climate divisions across the state. Divisions 2,3,6 and 7 cover northern Ohio.

Division 2,3,6 and 7 make up northern Ohio.  All four divisions last winter ranked top 10 warmest. Each division is below. I also included overall Ohio winter temperatures vs normal.

Winter Temperatures vs Normal - Ohio Division 2

Winter Temperatures vs Normal - Ohio Division 3

Winter Temperatures vs Normal - Ohio Division 6

Winter Temperatures vs Normal - Division 7

Winter Temperatures vs normal - All Ohio Divisions

Here are the top 20 warmest and coldest winters in northern Ohio (Hopkins Airport 1938 to Present/Downtown Cleveland 1871 to 1938)

As for northern Ohio specifically, last winter was very similar to the winter of 2016-17, 2011-12 and 2001-02. 

Here are the winter temperatures vs normal (using moving 10 year averages) since 1960

As I have written many times, most of us don't remember the average of the days we typically remember the extremes.  Here are the number of days each winter we reached a certain temperature threshold since 2000.

Number of Days Above 40 Degrees (Dec-Jan-Feb) out of 90 days

Number of Days Above 32 Degrees (Dec-Jan-Feb) out of 90 days

Number of Days With High Temperatures BELOW 20 Degrees (Dec-Jan-Feb) out of 90 days

Number of Nights BELOW ZERO (Dec-Jan-Feb) out of 90 days

Expanding out the winter list further in time, here are the number of days above 40 degrees since 1940

...Number of night below zero since 1940

Total Number of Winter Days Above Normal Last 20 Years

Most Days Above Normal - Top 15 Winters:

1932  73

1890  68

1882  64

1880  63

1933  62

2002  62

1953  61

1949  60

1992  60

2012  59

2020  59

1954  58

1999  58

2016  58

Here is a graph highlighting the hours the WIND CHILL dropped below a specific threshold over the last 15 winters. I added a few other notable winter of the past for comparison. Last winter is on the left side of the image below.

CUMULATIVE WIND CHILL HOURS LAST 20 YEARS

CUMULATIVE WIND CHILL HOURS FOR SELECT WINTERS IN THE 1990S, 80 AND 70S

...Next post we will cover snowfall history and Lake Erie Ice Cover history

How "Cool" Was September? The Complete Recap

September in northern Ohio started off with cooler temperatures and almost record setting rainfall on Labor Day. Radar loop is below.

More than 30% of the area saw 3"+ inches of rain.

Rainfall was significant the first half of the month.

Second half of the month was abnormally dry across most of the state

Cleveland went 14 days without rainfall:

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Normally, extreme northeastern Ohio receives the most rain in September

Even with an extremely dry second half of the month, most climate divisions montly rainfall ranked very high.

Eastern US rainfall during the first 8 days of September:

Eastern US rainfall from September 8th through September 21st:  Notice the heavy rain from the numerous tropical systems along the gulf coast

This was the first September since 2009 without a 90 degree day. Overnight lows by the middle of month dropped into the mid 40s

MORNING LOWS - SEPTEMBER 15TH

Mid-September record lows were set across the Great Lakes and New England

Northern Ohio temperatures the morning of the 21st

Center of the cool temperatures was in the middle of the US through the 15th. It shifted southeast by month's end.

This was the coolest September for northern Ohio since 2014.

The graphic below show the number of days with high temperatures above normal historically in Cleveland. The last 5 years had the MOST above normal September days. The only period of time close was the late 1940/early 1950s. 

A closer look shows how unusually cool the day-to-day temperatures in September were in Cleveland. I tabulated the above/below normal days for the last 5 years:

We ended up with 5 straight days with high temperatures in the 60s. Here is the frequency of consecutive days in the 60s in September. Last time we had a stretch like this was in 2010!

September cloud cover was well below normal in 2020. We went almost 11 straight days with clear skies!

Compare 2020 with 2019...BIG increase in cloud cover vs this year.

Now 2018...

Nationally, look at the difference between this year's mid-September temperatures vs normal (September 8 - 21) versus last year and the last "cool" September back in 2014

2020

2019

2014

Overall most of the country had near/slightly below normal temperatures in September 2020

SEPTEMBER TEMPERATURES VS NORMAL - MIDWEST