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Northeast Regional Climate Center |
For the first time since June 2005, the regional temperature average was below normal. The Northeast average was 2.2 degrees below normal; all states except Maine recorded temperatures that were cooler than the long-term mean. It was the coolest December since 2000 and 2.0 degrees cooler than December 2004. Pennsylvania and West Virginia were the coldest states in the Northeast, with a departure from normal of -4.2 degrees. Maine, the warmest state, was 1.4 degrees above normal.
Precipitation totals varied throughout the region, from 82% of normal in West Virginia to 155% of normal in Maine where precipitation totals have been at or above normal since July 2005. Overall, the Northeast average of 3.36 inches was 99% of the normal December precipitation.
Several fast moving weather systems brought a variety of precipitation types to the Northeast during the last month of the year. Lake effect squalls dumped up to a foot of snow on northwestern Pennsylvania, central West Virginia and upstate New York on the 1st and 2nd. The mid-Atlantic states were hit by wintry weather on the 4th and 5th; Maryland's eastern shore saw up to 6 inches from this storm. A nor'easter on the 9th brought high winds, ice accumulation and up to a foot of heavy, wet snow from West Virginia to Maine. Most of the regions saw rain from a system that tracked up the coast from the 25th to the 27th, but northern Maine was cold enough for all the precipitation to fall as snow. Snowfall rates up to 2 to 3 inches per hour yielded 48-hour totals in the 30 to 40 inch range at some locations in Aroostook County.
Monthly Summary of State Temperature and Precipitation Averages.
The year ended on a warm note. The average temperature of 47.9 degrees was 0.8 degrees above normal Each of the 12 states in the region posted above normal readings, with the range from 0.4 degrees above normal in Rhode Island to 1.1 degrees above normal in New Jersey and New York.
At year's end, the 2 northern states, Maine and New Hampshire had their wettest year on record. Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Vermont closely followed, at 3rd, 4th and 5th wettest, respectively. It was the 6th wettest year in the Northeast overall. The region's total of 49.38 inches was 113% of the long-term average. West Virginia was the only state with below normal precipitation, 95% of normal.
Annual Summary of State Temperature and Precipitation Averages.
