RodneyS Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 And the last day this year was February 22nd, when the high was 37. I believe that DC has never gone 10 months previously without a high below 40. I just discovered that in 1997 DCA went 10 months and nine days between days with highs below 40 -- from February 13th (high of 37) to December 22nd (high of 38). So, while we haven't set the record yet for the most consecutive days without a high below 40, we are on target to do so on New Year's Day. And, as Ian noted, 2011 would also be the first year in the 140 years of official DC temperature records that every December day would have reached at least 40. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deck Pic Posted December 29, 2011 Author Share Posted December 29, 2011 Min Max and Min for the 5 winters....Note that the max and min did not necessarily occur on the same day, even though the way I typed it may suggest that 1949-50 30/15 1973-74 29/18 1974-75 31/18 1998-99 27/16 2007-08 32/16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 any idea if those years had the lack of snowcover this one does? i wonder if the temps will end up a bit moderated by that on its way here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deck Pic Posted December 29, 2011 Author Share Posted December 29, 2011 any idea if those years had the lack of snowcover this one does? i wonder if the temps will end up a bit moderated by that on its way here. my guess is we don't hit any of those ranges here in this upcoming cold shot....I think the mins in most of those were aided by snowcover.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 here's days in the 30s or lower by yr at DCA in Jan 1872 14 1873 14 1874 9 1875 22 1876 8 1877 18 1878 13 1879 19 1880 2 1881 25 1882 14 1883 21 1884 19 1885 13 1886 17 1887 14 1888 18 1889 6 1890 4 1891 8 1892 18 1893 21 1894 9 1895 18 1896 14 1897 18 1898 10 1899 11 1900 12 1901 17 1902 14 1903 14 1904 23 1905 17 1906 7 1907 11 1908 9 1909 13 1910 13 1911 8 1912 23 1913 3 1914 7 1915 14 1916 9 1917 11 1918 28 1919 6 1920 22 1921 8 1922 17 1923 9 1924 10 1925 15 1926 13 1927 15 1928 10 1929 14 1930 15 1931 7 1932 1 1933 5 1934 6 1935 15 1936 15 1937 6 1938 16 1939 11 1940 28 1941 16 1942 11 1943 14 1944 11 1945 20 1946 12 1947 7 1948 20 1949 2 1950 3 1951 7 1952 6 1953 4 1954 11 1955 13 1956 14 1957 14 1958 14 1959 11 1960 8 1961 17 1962 14 1963 17 1964 7 1965 11 1966 16 1967 3 1968 16 1969 18 1970 17 1971 17 1972 7 1973 8 1974 4 1975 3 1976 14 1977 26 1978 20 1979 11 1980 9 1981 13 1982 19 1983 6 1984 14 1985 19 1986 11 1987 11 1988 18 1989 7 1990 2 1991 3 1992 6 1993 5 1994 18 1995 7 1996 15 1997 11 1998 3 1999 11 2000 15 2001 11 2002 6 2003 21 2004 21 2005 16 2006 2 2007 10 2008 6 2009 16 2010 14 2011 19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodneyS Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 I just discovered that in 1997 DCA went 10 months and nine days between days with highs below 40 -- from February 13th (high of 37) to December 22nd (high of 38). So, while we haven't set the record yet for the most consecutive days without a high below 40, we are on target to do so on New Year's Day. And, as Ian noted, 2011 would also be the first year in the 140 years of official DC temperature records that every December day would have reached at least 40. It looks as if the streak ends today, making 10 months and 12 days the new record between days with highs below 40 in DC (February 22, 2011 to January 3, 2012) -- three days more than the old 1997 record. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Chill Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 It looks as if the streak ends today, making 10 months and 12 days the new record between days with highs below 40 in DC (February 22, 2011 to January 3, 2012) -- three days more than the old 1997 record. Interesting stat and thank for tracking this stuff. This corresponds with the general flip to +NAO/AO we had back in Feb. Summer months don't count too much for thoses indexes but Feb-Mar and Nov-Dec of this year both featured a +NAO/AO combo. Climo has caught up to us now that we're in Jan. Any spike in the PNA can give us highs below 40. If you feel like digging into stats again sometime soon, check on Decembers with no highs below 40. I would be interested in the years that come up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodneyS Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 If you feel like digging into stats again sometime soon, check on Decembers with no highs below 40. I would be interested in the years that come up. As Ian noted earlier on this thread, 2011 was the first December in DC that did not record a single sub-40 degree high. Prior to 2011, December 1956 came the closest, not recording a sub-40 reading until the 30th, when the high was 31 (followed by 57 on the 31st). However, that year there was a cold wave in DC in late November, with five high temperatures in the 30s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Chill Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 As Ian noted earlier on this thread, 2011 was the first December in DC that did not record a single sub-40 degree high. Prior to 2011, December 1956 came the closest, not recording a sub-40 reading until the 30th, when the high was 31 (followed by 57 on the 31st). However, that year there was a cold wave in DC in late November, with five high temperatures in the 30s. Heh, old age is catching up to me. Dec was an odd month. No highs below 40 but no torch either. We didn't set any record highs for the month did we? I didn't pay that close attention. Such a stable (and crappy) pattern for the month for pretty much the entire country. Nothing but pac air and rain for most. First LES event going on right now and that's pretty unusual too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fozz Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Heh, old age is catching up to me. Dec was an odd month. No highs below 40 but no torch either. We didn't set any record highs for the month did we? I didn't pay that close attention. Such a stable (and crappy) pattern for the month for pretty much the entire country. Nothing but pac air and rain for most. First LES event going on right now and that's pretty unusual too. I consider consistent highs in the 50s to 60s to be a torch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Chill Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 I consider consistent highs in the 50s to 60s to be a torch. Maybe a torch but not really? DCA average high is aoa 50 for the first 8 days or so. The month was so repetitive that it sucked. Highs in the 50's for a couple days, then low 60's for a couple, and then 40's for a couple. Over and over. Record highs are pretty much in the low to mid 70's for the whole month and we didn't really get close to that. We would only string together 2-3 60+ days then back into the 40's. I guess no matter how you slice it, it was a really lame December. Torch or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodneyS Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Maybe a torch but not really? DCA average high is aoa 50 for the first 8 days or so. The month was so repetitive that it sucked. Highs in the 50's for a couple days, then low 60's for a couple, and then 40's for a couple. Over and over. Record highs are pretty much in the low to mid 70's for the whole month and we didn't really get close to that. We would only string together 2-3 60+ days then back into the 40's. I guess no matter how you slice it, it was a really lame December. Torch or not. The high temperature range at DCA for December 2011 was 43-63, and so you're correct that there were no exceptionally warm days. However, the mean December temperature was 45.0 degrees, tying 2011 with 1923 as the 6th warmest December in DC (warmest were 45.6 in 1889 and 1984). Perhaps a better characterization of December would be "very mild" as opposed to "torchy, but variable", which I would apply to December 1984, when the high temperature range was 30-75 and three days reached at least 71. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodneyS Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 The high temperature range at DCA for December 2011 was 43-63 . . . It just dawned on me that the low maximum temperature at DCA during 4Q 2011 occurred in October -- on the 29th, when the temperature reached a high of only 42 during our almost snow storm. The low maximum for November 2011 occurred on the 18th at 48, and the low maximum for December 2011 occurred on the 11th and again on the 17th at 43. In every previous year in DC weather history, the 4Q low maximum occurred in either November or December. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodneyS Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 In every previous year in DC weather history, the 4Q low maximum occurred in either November or December. I have now determined that the previous DC record for the earliest 4Q low maximum was November 13, 1911. So, in 2011 we pushed back a 100-year old record by 15 days. I'm guessing that October 29th, 2011 will stand as the earliest 4Q low maximum for at least another 100 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Probably weighted to the second half of the month but we can get a storm in a bad pattern better in January than Dec. Plus we're due. Additionally, I'll give an 80% chance of at least 1 70 degree day in Feb, bump 1 of 2 aint bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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