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000
CXUS51 KGYX 090751
CLSPWM

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

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

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

THE HIGHLIGHT EVENT OF THIS PAST WINTER WAS THE BLIZZARD ON
FEBRUARY 8TH AND 9TH THAT LEFT A RECORD 31.9 INCHES OF SNOW
IN PORTLAND. THE 31.9 INCHES BROKE THE OLD RECORD FOR A SINGLE
STORM OF 27.1 INCHES FROM THE SNOWSTORM OF JANUARY 17TH AND 18TH
IN 1979.

STRONG WINDS FROM THE NORTH...WITH GUSTS TOPPING OUT AT 56 MPH...
CREATED BLIZZARD CONDITIONS WITH CONSIDERABLE BLOWING AND
DRIFTING SNOW AND VERY LOW VISIBILITIES.

IN ADDITION TO PRODUCING THE BIGGEST SNOWFALL IN RECORDED HISTORY
THE BLIZZARD ALSO GAVE PORTLAND ITS GREATEST 24 HOUR SNOWFALL.
FROM 7 AM ON THE 8TH THROUGH 7 AM ON THE 9TH PORTLAND RECEIVED 25.9
INCHES OF SNOW. THIS BROKE THE OLD RECORD OF 24.4 INCHES FROM THE
SAME JANUARY 17-18TH, 1979 WINTER STORM.

ALTOGETHER FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY PORTLAND HAD 49.6 INCHES OF
SNOW. THIS BECAME THE 3RD SNOWIEST FEBRUARY AND THE 8TH SNOWIEST
MONTH EVER IN PORTLAND. THE SNOWIEST FEBRUARY REMAINS 61.2 INCHES IN
1969...FOLLOWED BY 50.9 INCHES IN 1893. THE SNOWIEST MONTH EVER WAS
JANUARY 1979 WITH 62.4 INCHES.

THE 49.6 INCHES OF SNOW IN FEBRUARY WAS MORE THAN FOUR TIMES THE
NORMAL FEBRUARY SNOWFALL. NORMALLY PORTLAND CAN EXPECT JUST 12.1
INCHES OF SNOW IN FEBRUARY.

DECEMBER WAS ALSO A VERY SNOWY MONTH WITH 24.8 INCHES OF SNOW
WHICH WAS NEARLY A FOOT (11.6 INCHES) ABOVE NORMAL. ONLY JANUARY,
WITH JUST 7.3 INCHES HAD BELOW NORMAL SNOWFALL.

FOR THE THREE MONTHS PORTLAND ENDED UP WITH 81.7 INCHES OF
SNOW WHICH WAS 37.3 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL. THIS WAS THE 11TH
SNOWIEST METEOROLOGICAL WINTER IN THE PAST 132 YEARS.

ALONG WITH THE ABOVE NORMAL SNOWFALL PORTLAND ALSO HAD ABOVE
NORMAL PRECIPITATION (COMBINED RAINFALL AND MELTED SNOWFALL).

PRECIPITATION IN DECEMBER AND FEBRUARY WERE WELL ABOVE NORMAL
WHILE JANUARY WAS WELL BELOW NORMAL. FOR THE SEASON PORTLAND
RECORDED 15.73 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION. THIS WAS 5.08 INCHES
ABOVE NORMAL AND RANKS AS THE 14TH WETTEST IN 142 YEARS.

PORTLAND RECORDED 8.30 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION IN DECEMBER. THIS
WAS MORE THAN DOUBLE THE NORMAL RAINFALL AS THE 8.30 INCHES WAS
4.28 INCHES ABOVE THE NORMAL OF 4.02 INCHES. THIS WAS THE 4TH
WETTEST DECEMBER ON RECORD...FALLING SHORT OF THE RECORD 9.69
INCHES OF PRECIPITATION IN DECEMBER OF 1969.

JANUARY CAME IN WITH 1.36 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION WHICH WAS TWO
INCHES (2.02 INCHES) BELOW NORMAL. THIS WAS THE 11TH DRIEST
JANUARY ON RECORD. FEBRUARY FOLLOWED WITH OVER SIX INCHES (6.07
INCHES) OF PRECIPITATION WHICH WAS NEARLY THREE INCHES (2.82
INCHES) ABOVE NORMAL. THIS WAS THE 13TH WETTEST FEBRUARY IN
THE PAST 142 YEARS.

THE WETTEST 24 HOUR PERIOD WAS FROM DECEMBER 17TH TO THE 18TH WITH
THREE AND A HALF INCHES (3.52 INCHES) OF RAIN. NEARLY ALL OF THIS
RAIN (3.50 INCHES) FELL ON JUST ONE DAY. THIS SET A RECORD RAINFALL
FOR DECEMBER 18TH...EXACTLY DOUBLING THE OLD RECORD OF 1.75 INCHES
SET WAY BACK IN 1888.

EACH MONTH WAS WARMER THAN NORMAL PRODUCING AN ABOVE NORMAL
WINTER WITH AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 28.5 DEGREES. THIS WAS
2.9 DEGREES ABOVE THE NORMAL AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THE
METEOROLOGICAL WINTER AND IS THE 7TH WARMEST ON RECORD.

THE HIGH TEMPERATURE FOR THE WINTER WAS 59 DEGREES ON JANUARY 14TH.
FOR THE THREE MONTHS PORTLAND HAD SEVEN DAYS WITH HIGHS OF 50 OR
WARMER...FOUR IN DECEMBER, THREE IN JANUARY AND NONE IN FEBRUARY.

THE LOW FOR THE WINTER WAS MINUS 4 DEGREES ON JANUARY 24TH. FOR THE
THREE MONTH PERIOD THERE WERE ONLY THREE DAYS OF ZERO OR COLDER. THE
OTHER TWO DAYS WERE LOWS OF EXACTLY ZERO AND OCCURRED IN JANUARY.

THE WEATHER FOR THIS PAST WINTER WAS ALSO HIGHLIGHTED BY THE
OCCASIONAL EXTREMELY WINDY DAY. EACH MONTH HAD A PEAK WIND GUST OF
50 MPH OR HIGHER. FOR THE WINTER THERE WERE FOUR DAYS WITH GUSTS OF
50 MPH OR HIGHER. THEY WERE 56 MPH ON FEBRUARY 9TH DURING THE BLIZZARD,
54 MPH ON DECEMBER 21ST, 50 MPH ON JANUARY 31ST AND 50 MPH ON FEBRUARY
17TH.

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

                         DEC        JAN        FEB     WINTER 2012/13
...TEMPERATURES...

AVERAGE TEMPERATURE      32.0       25.4       28.1          28.5
30 YEAR NORMAL           28.8       22.3       25.5          25.6
DEPARTURE            PLUS 3.2   PLUS 3.1   PLUS 2.6      PLUS 2.9
RANK (1 THROUGH 73)      10TH (T)   17TH       13TH           7TH
     (1 = WARMEST)

HIGHEST TEMPERATURE        55         59         45            59 - JAN 14TH

LOWEST TEMPERATURE         11         -4          9            -4 - JAN 24TH

...PRECIPITATION...

MEASURED (INCHES)        8.30       1.36       6.07         15.73
30 YEAR NORMAL           4.02       3.38       3.25         10.65
DEPARTURE           PLUS 4.28 MINUS 2.02  PLUS 2.82     PLUS 5.08
RANK (1 THROUGH 142)      4TH      133RD       13TH          14TH
     (1 = WETTEST)

GREATEST RAINFALL
IN ANY 24-HOUR PERIOD    3.52       0.60       2.30          3.52 - DEC 17-18TH

...SNOWFALL DATA...

MEASURED (INCHES)        24.8        7.3       49.6          81.7
30 YEAR NORMAL           13.2       19.2       12.0          44.4
DEPARTURE           PLUS 11.6 MINUS 11.9  PLUS 37.6     PLUS 37.3
RANK (1 THROUGH 132)    116TH (T)  115TH        3RD          11TH
     (1 = SNOWIEST)

GREATEST SNOWFALL (INCHES)
IN ANY 24-HOUR PERIOD    11.6        5.1       25.9          25.9 - FEB 8-9TH

...DEGREE DAY DATA...

HEATING DEGREE DAYS      1013       1221       1028          3262
NORMAL                   1121       1324       1106          3551
DEPARTURE           MINUS 108  MINUS 103   MINUS 78     MINUS 289

COOLING DEGREE DAYS         0          0          0             0
NORMAL                      0          0          0             0
DEPARTURE                NONE       NONE       NONE          NONE

...WIND...

AVERAGE SPEED           7.7 MPH    7.8 MPH    9.8 MPH       8.4 MPH
NORMAL                  8.8 MPH    9.2 MPH    9.4 MPH       9.1 MPH
DEPARTURE              -1.1 MPH   -1.4 MPH    0.4 MPH      -0.7 MPH

HIGHEST WIND GUST        54 MPH     50 MPH     56 MPH        56 MPH - FEB 9TH

...SEA LEVEL PRESSURE...

HIGHEST (IN INCHES)       30.68      30.53     30.56         30.68 - DEC 1ST
LOWEST (IN INCHES)        29.09      28.85     29.22         28.85 - JAN 31ST

                        WINTER 2012/13   NORMAL     DEPARTURE
...NUMBER OF DAYS WITH...

MAX TEMPERATURE 90 OR WARMER      0           0          NONE
MAX TEMPERATURE 32 OR COLDER     31        35.0     MINUS 4.0
MIN TEMPERATURE 32 OR COLDER     82        82.6     MINUS 0.6
MIN TEMPERATURE  0 OR COLDER      3         6.6     MINUS 3.6

THUNDERSTORMS                     0         0.2     MINUS 0.2
DENSE FOG (VSBY < 1/4 MI)        12         6.3      PLUS 5.7

PCPN 0.01 INCH OR MORE           36        32.3      PLUS 3.7
PCPN 1.00 INCH OR MORE            6         2.8      PLUS 3.2
SNOWFALL TRACE OR MORE           32        20.1     PLUS 11.9
SNOWFALL 1 INCH OR MORE          13        11.5      PLUS 1.5
SNOWFALL 6 INCHES OR MORE         5         N/A

WARMEST WINTER .......... 31.3 DEGREES IN 2001/02
COLDEST WINTER .......... 17.9 DEGREES IN 1970/71
WETTEST WINTER .......... 20.49 INCHES IN 1934/35
DRIEST WINTER ...........  4.12 INCHES IN 1871/72
SNOWIEST WINTER ......... 107.6 INCHES IN 1970/71
LEAST SNOWIEST WINTER ...   9.5 INCHES IN 1936/37

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

...RECORDS...

HERE IS A LIST OF DAILY RECORDS SET OR TIED THIS WINTER...

DATE       RECORD                            PREVIOUS RECORD
DEC  1     3 - SMALLEST DAILY TEMP. RANGE    4 DEGREES IN 1969
DEC  8     5 - SMALLEST DAILY TEMP. RANGE    6 DEGREES IN 1952 & 1971
DEC 16     4 - SMALLEST DAILY TEMP. RANGE    4 DEGREES IN 1948 & 1995
                                                            /TIED/
DEC 18     3.50 - GREATEST PRECIPITATION     1.75 INCHES IN 1888
DEC 19     36 - WARMEST LOW TEMPERATURE      36 DEGREES IN 1996 /TIED/
DEC 19     3 - SMALLEST DAILY TEMP. RANGE    4 DEGREES IN 1959
DEC 27     11.6 - GREATEST SNOWFALL          8.8 INCHES IN 1894
JAN  3     36 - WARMEST LOW TEMPERATURE      34 DEGREES IN 1956
JAN 13     41 - WARMEST AVERAGE TEMPERATURE  37 DEGREES IN 1956 & 2002
JAN 14     59 - WARMEST HIGH TEMPERATURE     53 DEGREES IN 1950 & 2005
JAN 14     47 - WARMEST AVERAGE TEMPERATURE  47 DEGREES IN 2006 /TIED/
JAN 23     8 - COLDEST HIGH TEMPERATURE      9 DEGREES IN 1976
JAN 30     52 - WARMEST HIGH TEMPERATURE     49 DEGREES IN 1959
JAN 30     42 - WARMEST AVERAGE TEMPERATURE  40 DEGREES IN 1974
JAN 31     54 - WARMEST HIGH TEMPERATURE     54 DEGREES IN 1988 /TIED/
FEB  8     15.3 - HIGHEST DAILY SNOWFALL     10.8 INCHES IN 1971
FEB 24     10.7 - HIGHEST DAILY SNOWFALL     9.9 INCHES IN 1962

$$

SJC