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Northeast Regional Climate Center |
Temperatures during the last month of 2004 averaged very close to the thirty year mean. Overall, the Northeast's average temperature of 28.2 degrees was only 0.2 degrees cooler than normal. This December was 0.9 degrees cooler than December 2003. Temperatures from New York to Maine tended to be below normal, while the southern half of the region had departures that were just above normal. Departures ranged from 1.3 degrees below normal in Maine to 0.6 degrees above normal in New Jersey. Most of the region saw the coldest temperatures on the 20th or 21st, after a cold air mass settled over the eastern U.S. A warm front brought the highest temperatures for the month on the 23rd and 24th.
The Northeast received an average of 3.86 inches of precipitation in December, which was 114% of normal. This was one inch less than the amount that fell in 2003. The four southernmost states averaged drier than the long-term average, Delaware being the driest at 79% of normal and the only state with less than 3 inches of precipitation. Vermont, with 4.47 inches of precipitation, was the wettest state. The lake-effect snow machine started up this month, bringing over a foot of snow to areas downwind of Lakes Erie and Ontario. Northern Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and the higher elevations of West Virginia also saw a foot or more of snow in December.
The last month of the year started out wet and wild. Rapidly intensifying low pressure sped through the Northeast on the 1st, bringing strong, damaging winds to each of the 12 states in the Northeast. Reports of gusts as high as 60 mph came in from Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware. Over 200,000 households throughout the region lost power, including at least 11,000 in northern Maine where 8 to 12 inches of heavy wet snow fell. Damage estimates topped $1.2 million, with the greatest destruction in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Massachusetts.
A storm system over western Virginia on December 10th moved northeast across northern New York on the 11th. A mixture of snow, sleet and rain developed across the area the evening of December 10th and changed to a steady wet snow overnight. By the morning of December 11th, accumulations were 5 to 9 inches across northern New York. Circulation around the system dumped 8-24 inches of snow in northern Maine and the lake effect regions of New York later on the 11th.
Cold air settled over the Northeast after a strong cold front passage on the 19th-20th, changing lingering rain showers to snow showers. Black ice on roadways and lake effect squalls after the front passed caused numerous accidents, including an 80-car pileup on Interstate 80 in Mercer County, PA. Snowfall totals of 5-7 inches were reported in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, while the coldest temperatures of the season where found throughout the Northeast.
Rapidly intensifying low pressure swept a strong cold front through the eastern US from the 22nd-24th. Winds associated with this frontal passage were strong and gusty; reports of 50 to 60 mph gusts came in from every state in the Northeast, resulting in power outages, structural damage and downed trees. At least one death was reported when a tree fell on a car in Queens, NY. In addition, heavy snow changed to freezing rain, light rain, then back to light snow in northwest Pennsylvania, creating havoc on the roads and power outages from ice accumulation. Damage estimates from the winter storm in Erie and Crawford Counties, PA topped $2.5 million.
An upper air disturbance interacted with Atlantic moisture to produce snow from coastal Maryland to Maine on the 26th and 27th. One to four inches fell on Maryland's Eastern Shore and the New Jersey coastal counties before the storm began to intensify on its way toward the Canadian Maritimes. Heavy snow bands brought 4 to 9 inches to eastern Long Island, NY and 6-10 inches to Rhode Island. By the time the storm reached coastal Massachusetts, winds were gusting to 55 mph, drifting the 10-18 inches of snow that fell there. Similar conditions were found in Downeast Maine, where 4-15 inches of snow fell on the 27th.
Monthly Summary of State Temperature and Precipitation Averages.
