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December 2021 General Discussion


Hoosier
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December 2021 in Minneapolis was a mixed bag with lots of snowfall and winter weather pared with a rapid thaw and a historic outbreak of severe weather and winds in the middle.  
 

24 days featured a snow-depth of least 1” with a maximum of 12” on the 11th after the first large winter storm of the season brought 11.8” of accumulation.

Total monthly snowfall was 21.1” not counting the duster we got today which will add a few tenths to that number. This is 9.8” above average for the month. 1.95” of liquid equivalent precipitation fell which is 0.78” above average. 17 days featured snowfall.

We end the month with the first real arctic outbreak of the season, and temperatures not forecasted to rise above zero for ~36 hours. 

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So needless to say, 2021 was the warmest December on record for DFW.

But just to show how unprecedented it was:

 

*1st December ever to end with a monthly average greater than 60°F (61.3°F to be exact).

 

*Previous record for warmest December was shattered by a whopping +7.3 degrees.

 

*1st December ever to end with a positive double-digit departure from average (+13.2 degrees to be exact).

 

*1st December ever to end with an average high greater than 70°F (72.6°F to be exact).

 

*The previous record for highest December average high was shattered by a whopping +6.7 degrees.

 

*1st December ever to end with an average low of at least 50°F (50°F to beexact).

 

*Previous record for highest December average low was shattered by a whopping +6.6 degrees.

 

*Grand total of only 1 freeze (with a low of only 32°F to be exact)

 

*Grand total of only 1 day with a sub-50°F high (48°F to be exact).

 

*Total of 23 days (yes, you read that correctly) with a high of 70°F+

 

*Total of 8 days with a high of 80°F+

 

*Warmest Christmas day on record, with a high of 82°F (breaking the previous record of 80°F from 2016).

 

*Ended with a 9-day consecutive streak of 70°F+ highs.

 

This was all driven by a number of combined factors, including widespread moderate/severe drought conditions across the Southern Plains, an unusually deep -PNA (deepest in at least 16 years), and the MJO which only slowly progressed through two phases (6 & 7) that were favorable for warmer than normal tempertures in Texas.

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At Detroit...December finish with an average temperature of 37.2, which ties with 1931 for 8th warmest December on record. While it was a wet month with meager snow (3.3) neither of these was top 20 territory. 

 

2021 finished tying with 1921 for the 5th warmest year on record (52.7°) and also the 12th wettest year on record (39.99"). Snowfall was near normal at 42.2". This is an inch above longterm avg and ranks 58th snowiest (out of 141).

 A little bit of irony in this is the fact that everyone was freaking out about drought when it ended up being a very wet year. Another piece of irony... I have to double check but I think we technically had more record low temps than record high temps despite the warm year.

 

I finished 2021 with 41.93" of precip and 43.1" snow.

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20 minutes ago, michsnowfreak said:

Do the trees even lose their leaves lol?

The vast majority of trees are bare by the time Christmas arrives, but some of them never lose their leaves & remain green all year. Even back during the February freeze last year, they kept their leaves. 

In-N-Out even managed to get away with planting Palm Trees outside their restaurants here (an ode of course to their Southern California roots) until they were all killed last winter. They've since been replaced though. 

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1 minute ago, Powerball said:

The vast majority of them sare bare by the time Christmas arrives, but some of them never lose their leaves & remain green all year. Even back during the February freeze last year, a few of them kept their leaves. 

In-N-Out even managed to get away with planting Palm Trees outside their restaurants here (an ode of course to their Southern California roots) until they were all killed last winter. They've since been replaced though. 

Interesting. So with your extremely warm December our flowers blooming? Seems like every year when we get a 45 or 50゚ day people are like "I saw a crocus" or something like that.

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Since 2014...what in the world is going on with November and December snowfall at Detroit. 5 out of 8 years saw more in November. 

Year - Nov - Dec

2014 - 4.0" - 0.1"

2015 - 6.2" - 1.3"

2016 - 0.1" - 16.8"

2017 -  T -  22.5"

2018 - 6.7" - 0.5"

2019 - 9.5" - 2.7"

2020 - 3.5" - 9.6"

2021 - 7.1" - 3.3"

 

For reference...avg is 1.5" Nov and 8.9" Dec.

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5 minutes ago, michsnowfreak said:

Interesting. So with your extremely warm December our flowers blooming? Seems like every year when we get a 45 or 50゚ day people are like "I saw a crocus" or something like that.

I haven't noticed any premature blooming here, but a poster in the Central/Western subforum (who lives in a suburb of Austin) noted that their trees were leafing out again and their tomato plants were still growing. 

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Was it mild?

 

Public Information Statement
National Weather Service Chicago IL
1203 PM CST Sat Jan 1 2022 /103 PM EST Sat Jan 1 2022/

...A Look Back at the Climate for the Month of December 2021 for
Chicago and Rockford...

At Chicago, the average high temperature was 45.8 degrees, which
is 9.2 degrees above normal. The average low temperature was 30.2
degrees, which is 5.8 degrees above normal. The average temperature
for the month was 38.0 degrees, which is 7.5 degrees above normal.
During the month of December, 2.30 inches of precipitation were
recorded, which is 0.19 inches above normal. 1.9 inches of snow
fell, which is 5.7 inches below normal.

Three daily records for Chicago were set during the month of
December 2021:
* Record daily maximum temperature of 66 degrees on the 15th.
* Record daily highest minimum temperature of 50 degrees on the 15th.
* Record daily maximum temperature of 66 degrees on the 16th.

One top ten monthly record:
** 6th warmest December on record since 1871 with a mean average
   temperature of 38.0 degrees.


At Rockford, the average high temperature was 44.2 degrees, which
is 9.9 degrees above normal. The average low temperature was 25.7
degrees, which is 5.5 degrees above normal. The average temperature
for the month was 34.9 degrees, which is 7.6 degrees above normal.
During the month of December, 2.42 inches of precipitation were
recorded, which is 0.49 inches above normal. 2.6 inches of snow
fell, which is 6.8 inches below normal.

Four daily records for Rockford were set during the month of
December 2021:
* Record daily maximum temperature of 69 degrees on the 15th.
* Record daily highest minimum temperature of 50 degrees on the 15th.
* Record daily maximum temperature of 68 degrees on the 16th.
* Tied record daily maximum temperature of 55 degrees on the 24th.

One top ten monthly record:
** 4th warmest December on record since 1905 with a mean average
   temperature of 34.9 degrees.

$$

Ogorek
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12 hours ago, madwx said:

We had our 15th warmest December in MSN.  

For the year overall it was:

10th warmest

12th driest (1976 was the last time we had a year this dry)

56th least snowiest

Man to have a year drier than not only 2012, but 1988 and 1989 too is insane. And to think if it weren't for the last two weeks of june and the second week of august it would probably be a sub 20" year. Those two periods are legit the only reason why this year didn't enter the drought pantheon years despite the low precip. Very similar to 2005 in that regards. Unfortunately, this coming year is probably going to really suck for drought. We are already having expanding severe drought in the southern part of the state and it's January. If we don't have a wet spring which considering it's a 2nd year Nina is not very likely, we are going to be in serious trouble come May and June. 

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On 1/1/2022 at 2:08 PM, Hoosier said:

Was it mild?

 

Public Information Statement
National Weather Service Chicago IL
1203 PM CST Sat Jan 1 2022 /103 PM EST Sat Jan 1 2022/

...A Look Back at the Climate for the Month of December 2021 for
Chicago and Rockford...

At Chicago, the average high temperature was 45.8 degrees, which
is 9.2 degrees above normal. The average low temperature was 30.2
degrees, which is 5.8 degrees above normal. The average temperature
for the month was 38.0 degrees, which is 7.5 degrees above normal.

One top ten monthly record:
** 6th warmest December on record since 1871 with a mean average
   temperature of 38.0 degrees.

$$

Ogorek

To add to that, the top 10 warmest Decembers list...

Warmest Decembers On Record:
1. 43.3° - 1877
2. 40.7° - 1889
3. 39.7° - 1923
4. 39.0° - 2015
5. 38.4° - 1931
6. 38.0° - 2021
7. 37.8° - 1881
8. 37.7° - 1918
9. 37.4° - 1913
10. 36.7° - 1971
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Here in CU December finished the fourth warmest on record only behind 1923, 2015, 1889. we finished the month with 0.01” of snow that melted within an hour on 12/28.

 

January looking cold and dry. Gotta say, If things don’t turn around soon I’ll be hoping for a very early spring. 
 

our seasonal snowfall total stands at 0.01” with not much hope on the horizon. 

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3 hours ago, Chambana said:

Here in CU December finished the fourth warmest on record only behind 1923, 2015, 1889. we finished the month with 0.01” of snow that melted within an hour on 12/28.

 

January looking cold and dry. Gotta say, If things don’t turn around soon I’ll be hoping for a very early spring. 
 

our seasonal snowfall total stands at 0.01” with not much hope on the horizon. 

I think you mean 0.1", but I feel your pain

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