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Northeast Regional Climate Center |
The average temperature in the Northeast this December was 29.8 degrees, which is 1.4 degrees above normal. The majority of the region reported temperatures close to 1 degree above their respective state averages. The only states below normal were the three southernmost states, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia, but these did not stray too far from the rest of the region. West Virginia was the coolest state relative to its own records but was barely one degree below normal. Up north was a different story. New York and New England were all between one and two degrees above normal with the exception of the northernmost states New Hampshire and Maine. New Hampshire's December temperature of 26.4 degrees was 2.3 degrees above normal. Maine stood out the most with a departure of 4.3 degrees. The anomalous warmth in Maine gives Vermont the distinction of being the coldest state in the Northeast this December - the first time any state beside Maine has held this honor in any month since July 2001.
Two major snowstorms in the Northeast this month, each followed by a soaking rain, were enough to make this December the wettest since 1996. Eleven states measured more than four inches of rain, seven of these received over five inches, and New Hampshire and New Jersey both totaled over six inches. The 6.07 inches of rain and melted snow in New Hampshire was the fifth highest December total on record in that state. Vermont measured its third highest total, but still fell more than an 1 1/2 inches below the state record. New Jersey received the highest total of any state with 6.14 inches, but this mark has been surpassed previously in nine other years. The only state below four inches on the month, and the only state below normal, was West Virginia. This December continues the Northeast's wet trend as the eighth month in a row with above average precipitation.
Monthly Summary of State Temperature and Precipitation Averages.
