NYC December Snowfall Graph

[NorEaster17]

1st time posting, hope you all enjoy my info..

I was impressed to see these numbers... Using just December snowfall data for NYC; there has been a substantial increase in the past decade.

Here's a graph I created:

Key Notes:

• Central Park has seen more snow in the month of December in the last 11 years then the 70s, 80s and 90s COMBINED.

• The decade of 2000-2009 was the 3rd highest total since the 1870s

• NYC needs just 34 more inches in the next 9 Decembers to be above average for an entire decade

• On average, NYC saw 2 inches of snow in Decembers in the 1970s & 80s but the last 11 years they now see 9 inches on average (350% increase)

• The 20.1” of snow they received December last year was more than the 10 Decembers combined of the 70s.

Source

[Sundog]

Great post great info, explains the weenies' inflated expectations. I was a kid in the 90s and remember winters sucking badly. It was a painful period, especially the 96-97 through 99-00 stretch.

[uncle W]

years with major December snowstorms almost always have more heavy snow later on...The last two years are perfect examples...

last year had the 17th snowfall 8" or more for December in NYC...The odds favor more snow after December...

year......8"+ snowfall...season snowfall/after December...later heavy snowfalls...

1872........18.0".....................60.3"................39.8"......................6.0"

1886..........8.1".....................32.9"................22.6"......................none 6" or more

1909..........8.0".....................27.2"................17.4"......................10.0"

1912........11.4".....................15.3"..................3.9"......................none

1916........12.7".....................50.7"................36.2"......................6.7" 6.5"

1917..........9.1".....................34.5"................20.1"......................5.9"

1933........11.2".....................52.0"................36.6"......................9.8" 9.3" 7.6"

1945..........8.3".....................31.4"................12.1"......................7.5"

1947........26.4".....................63.2"................33.6"......................5.7"

1948........16.0".....................46.6"................21.3"......................9.4"

1957..........8.0".....................44.7"................36.0"......................7.9" 11.8"

1959........13.7".....................39.2"................22.9"......................14.7"

1960........15.2".....................54.7"................36.1"......................9.9" 17.4"

2000........12.0".....................35.0"................21.6"......................6.0"

2003........14.0".....................42.0"................22.2"......................10.3"

2009........10.9".....................51.4"................39.0"......................10.0" 20.9"

2010........20.0".....................61.9"................41.8"......................19.0" 9.1"

15 of 17 were above seasonal average...1909-10 was almost average but did have a 10" storm in January...1912-13 was the only year that was benign after December...It doesn't mean we can't get a great winter if December had liught amounts...1977-78 had little going into January...

13 of 17 years had a 6" storm after December...

9 of 17 years had a storm 9" or more after December...

14 of 17 years had 20 or more inches of snow after December...

7 of 17 years had over 50" of seasonal snowfall...

10 of 17 years had over 40"..."

1926 had a 7.9" storm and that year ended up with 22.3"...

1995 had a 7.7" storm and that year ended up with 75.6"...

[earthlight]

Very nice post. I would be interested in seeing the difference between the major NYC reporting stations and the slightly more interior stations. I'm sure there is a pretty dramatic difference there (there almost always is), but I'll take a look at it and see if I can get any comparison graphs going for some of those areas (EWR,TEB,MMU,etc).

Also, we now have a NorEaster27 and NorEaster17 which should be fun this winter.

[NorEaster17]

Thanks everyone...

27 was my first choice but it was taken. Lol.

Another note to make... Everytime there was more then 20" that fell in December, the following year had less then 5" for the month except 48-49.

[NorEaster17]

Very nice post. I would be interested in seeing the difference between the major NYC reporting stations and the slightly more interior stations. I'm sure there is a pretty dramatic difference there (there almost always is), but I'll take a look at it and see if I can get any comparison graphs going for some of those areas (EWR,TEB,MMU,etc).

I have some data for Hartford, Albany and State College but not monthly...just yearly snowfall totals. If you have a site with monthly totals I will be more then happy to put it into a graph for you to show December snowfall comparisons.

I have a few other graphs I'll be posting today which would probably go in the "weather forecasting and discussion" page.

[NYCSuburbs]

Great post great info, explains the weenies' inflated expectations. I was a kid in the 90s and remember winters sucking badly. It was a painful period, especially the 96-97 through 99-00 stretch.

Agreed. The last few Decembers were quite snowy compared to what they would usually be. Even though it would probably seem little for snow lovers, one 4 inch snowstorm in the entire month would make December a decent month compared to an average December. Those graphs nicely put into perspective the difference between the average December snowfall and the exceptionally snowy Decembers of the last decade.