National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

• Home
• Site Map
• News
• Organization
• Search for: NWS All NOAA 

000
CXUS51 KGYX 090752
CLSGYX

GRAY CLIMATE DATA FOR THE WINTER OF 2012/13
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAY ME
145 AM EST SAT MAR 9 2013

THIS IS A SEASONAL SUMMARY FOR THE METEOROLOGICAL WINTER (DECEMBER...JANUARY
...FEBRUARY) OF 2012/13 FOR GRAY, MAINE.

THE METEOROLOGICAL WINTER OF 2012-2013 IN GRAY, MAINE WAS MUCH SNOWIER YET
MUCH WARMER THAN NORMAL.

THE HIGHLIGHT FOR THIS WINTER WAS THE BLIZZARD OF 2013 WHICH GAVE GRAY ITS
BIGGEST SNOWSTORM ON RECORD. THE STORM DUMPED OVER TWO FEET (26.8 INCHES)
OF SNOW WHICH TOPPED THE PREVIOUS BIGGEST SNOWSTORM OF 18.0 INCHES SET ON
DECEMBER 25TH AND 26TH OF 2002.

FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY GRAY RECORDED 49.3 INCHES OF SNOW. THIS SET A NEW
RECORD FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY...TOPPING THE OLD RECORD OF 45.5 INCHES SET
IN 2008. THIS IS THE 2ND SNOWIEST MONTH EVER IN GRAY...FALLING WELL SHORT OF
THE RECORD 58.3 INCHES SET IN MARCH 2001. IT SHOULD BE POINTED OUT THAT THE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST OFFICE IN GRAY HAS ONLY 18 YEARS OF WEATHER
RECORDS.

DECEMBER ALSO HAD ABOVE NORMAL SNOWFALL WITH 21.4 INCHES. THIS WAS 3.1 INCHES
ABOVE NORMAL. JANUARY HAD VERY LITTLE SNOWFALL WITH JUST 6.5 INCHES. THIS
WAS MORE THAN A FOOT (14.7 INCHES) BELOW NORMAL. HOWEVER, DUE TO THE VERY
SNOWY FEBRUARY WHICH HAD 32.8 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL SNOWFALL THE METEOROLOGICAL
WINTER ENDED UP WITH 77.2 INCHES OF SNOW WHICH WAS 21.2 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL.

THIS WINTER ALSO HAD ABOVE NORMAL PRECIPITATION (COMBINED RAINFALL AND MELTED
SNOWFALL). THE 11.99 INCHES WAS ABOUT AN INCH (1.09 INCHES) ABOVE NORMAL.
DECEMBER, WITH 6.69 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION, AND FEBRUARY, WITH 4.15 INCHES,
WERE BOTH ABOVE NORMAL WHILE JANUARY, WITH JUST 1.15 INCHES, WAS THE ONLY MONTH
WITH BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION.

THE 1.15 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION IN JANUARY ALSO TIED APRIL OF 2001 AS THE 7TH
DRIEST MONTH EVER AT THE GRAY OBSERVATION SITE. THE DRIEST MONTH ON RECORD WAS
0.16 INCHES IN AUGUST OF 1996.

GRAY HAD A WARMER THAN NORMAL WINTER BY 1.7 DEGREES WITH A THREE MONTH AVERAGE
TEMPERATURE OF 26.0 DEGREES. ALL THREE WINTER MONTHS WERE WARMER THAN NORMAL
WITH DECEMBER AND JANUARY COMING IN 2.1 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL WHILE FEBRUARY WAS
0.8 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL.

THE HIGH FOR THE SEASON WAS 57 DEGREES ON JANUARY 14TH. THERE WERE FOUR DAYS
WITH HIGHS OF 50 OR WARMER THIS WINTER...TWO IN DECEMBER, TWO IN JANUARY AND
NONE IN FEBRUARY.

THE LOW FOR THE SEASON WAS MINUS 7 DEGREES ON JANUARY 23RD AND 24TH. THERE
WAS ONLY ONE OTHER DAY WITH A LOW OF ZERO OR COLDER...THAT WAS A ZERO
DEGREE LOW ON JANUARY 25TH.

HERE IS A TABULAR SUMMARY OF WINTER 2012-2013 IN GRAY MAINE.

...TEMPERATURES...

                           DEC.       JAN.       FEB.      WINTER 2012/13
AVERAGE TEMPERATURE        29.4       23.1       25.5          26.0
30 YEAR NORMAL             27.3       21.0       24.7          24.3
DEPARTURE              PLUS 2.1   PLUS 2.1   PLUS 0.8      PLUS 1.7

HIGHEST TEMPERATURE          54         57         45            57 - JAN 14TH
LOWEST TEMPERATURE           12         -7          6            -7 - JAN 23RD & 24TH

...PRECIPITATION...

MEASURED (INCHES)          6.69       1.15       4.15         11.99
30 YEAR NORMAL             4.06       3.53       3.31         10.90
DEPARTURE             PLUS 2.63 MINUS 2.38  PLUS 0.84     PLUS 1.09

GREATEST RAINFALL
IN ANY 24-HOUR PERIOD      1.78       0.45       1.23          1.78 - DEC 18-19TH

...SNOWFALL DATA...

MEASURED (INCHES)          21.4        6.5       49.3          77.2
30 YEAR NORMAL             18.3       21.2       16.5          56.0
DEPARTURE              PLUS 3.1 MINUS 14.7  PLUS 32.8     PLUS 21.2

GREATEST SNOWFALL (INCHES)
IN ANY 24-HOUR PERIOD       9.0        4.4       23.5          23.5 - FEB 8-9TH

...DEGREE DAY DATA...

HEATING DEGREE DAYS        1100       1291       1100          3491
30 YEAR NORMAL             1169       1364       1128          3661
DEPARTURE              MINUS 69   MINUS 73   MINUS 28     MINUS 170

COOLING DEGREE DAYS           0          0          0             0
30 YEAR NORMAL                0          0          0             0
DEPARTURE                  NONE       NONE       NONE          NONE

...NUMBER OF DAYS DURING WINTER WITH...

                           WINTER 2012/13   NORMAL    DEPARTURE

MAX TEMPERATURE 90 OR WARMER        0          0.0         NONE
MAX TEMPERATURE 32 OR COLDER       36         43.1    MINUS 7.1
MIN TEMPERATURE 32 OR COLDER       87         85.2     PLUS 1.8
MIN TEMPERATURE  0 OR COLDER        3          6.4    MINUS 3.4
0.01 INCH OR MORE PCPN             39         32.3     PLUS 6.7
1.00 INCH OR MORE PCPN              2          3.0    MINUS 1.0
SNOWFALL TRACE OR MORE             42         23.6    PLUS 18.4
SNOWFALL 1 INCH OR MORE            13         13.9    MINUS 0.9
SNOWFALL 6 INCHES OR MORE           4          N/A

NOTE...THE METEOROLOGICAL WINTER REFERS TO DECEMBER - JANUARY - FEBRUARY
TOTALS ONLY.

IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT WEATHER RECORDS IN GRAY ARE LIMITED...GOING BACK
ONLY 18 YEARS...BEGINNING IN OCTOBER OF 1995.

$$

SJC