New York City Weather Archive

Today in New York Weather History: May 18

 

• 2000 - 0.66" of rain fell in a 30-minute period (6-6:30 PM) and within that half hour 0.44" fell during the fifteen minutes between 6:15-6:30.

 

 

• 2001 - A pre-dawn shower that amounted to just 0.07" of rain ended an extended dry spell of twenty-six days, the second longest dry spell in the 1979-2012 period.  (Only a 35-day drought that occurred two years earlier in May/June 1999 was longer.)  Then, between May 21-29, rain fell on eight of the nine days, amounting to two inches. 

 

• 2011 - Today was the 4th day in a row with rain, and it culminated with a record amount for the date - 2.18".  The four-day rain total of 3.91" accounted for 3/4 of the month's total rainfall.  This was the 4th year since 2000 that more than an inch of rain fell on this date.  Also, today's amount was double the amount that fell last year on this date.  

 

Today in New York Weather History: May 16

• 1989 - Just before daybreak 0.58" of rain poured down in one hour, between 5:23-6:23 AM. 

 

• 1990 - 2.32" of rain fell, with much of it after 7PM.  A year earlier on the same date, 2.30" fell.

 

• 2001 - This was the 25th day in a row without precipitation, making it the second longest rainless streak in the 1979-2012 period, passing two streaks of 24 days in Jan/Feb 1980 and August 1995. 

 

• 2007 - I celebrated my 50th birthday two days after the actual date with an evening dinner party at a Venezuelan restaurant in Greenwich Village.  Unlike my 40th birthday, which had beautiful weather, this year featured thunderstorms between 3-9PM that dropped 0.83" of rain.

 

• 2012 - Overnight showers, amounting to 0.09", made this the 7th year out of the past nine in which some rain fell on this date. 

Looking Back at New York Weather: April 30

• 1963 - Up until today just 0.39" of rain had fallen in April and it appeared it would become the driest on record.  However, an all-day rain brought 0.89" and the month ended up tied for third driest April.  Today's rainfall was a record for the date, which is the 2nd smallest amount for a daily record (Sept. 9's daily record is 0.86", back in 1902).  

 

• 2012 - The final nine days of April all had chillier than average temperatures - the longest such streak since the end of March last year.  But despite these below average condtions, the month was the unprecented thirteenth in a row with above average temperatures.

 

• 2013 - With a high/low of 68/51, today's mean temperature was two degrees above average, just enough to move the month's mean temperature from 0.1 degree below average to right at the average.  Thus, it joined August 1999 and August 1985 as the only months since 1979 to have a mean temperature on par with the monthly average.  April's high was 0.1 above average; the low was 0.1 below average.  However, what was far from average was the month's precipitation, which amounted to just 1.31".  This was 71% below the norm of 4.51", making it the 5th driest April on record (and the driest in 50 years).

Today in New York Weather History: March 31

In the period 1979-2012 the average date of the final low temperature of freezing or colder is March 31.  It has occurred as early as March 16 (in 1999 and 2005) and as late as April 17 (in 1980). 

 

• 1997 - A nor'easter with 30-45 mph wind gusts dumped 2.32" of rain in New York and record amounts of snow in New England on the following day (25" in Boston, 18" in Providence).  A few days earlier NYC had been warned of the potential for significant snow accumulation as well, but too much mild air moved in.    

 

1998 - Today's high temperature hit 86 degrees, tying March 29, 1945 for the warmest reading ever recorded in March.  This was the last day of a 5-day spring "heat wave".  During this warm spell the average high/low was 82/61, twenty-six degrees above average.  The next 80-degree day wouldn't be for another six-and-a-half weeks (May 15).  Today also happened to be the home opener for the New York Mets (which they won in 11 innings over Philadelphia). 

 

• 2003 - Five years later the Mets weren't as fortunate playing their home opener again on March 31.  Although the game was played under clear skies, the temperature hovered around 40 degrees and a biting wind created a "feels like" temperature of 30 degrees.  No surprise that this was the coldest Opening Day in the 1979-2012 period.  To make it even worse, the Mets were pounded by the Cubs by a score of 15-2.

 

2011 - This was the earliest date for a Yankees home opener and it was played in raw and damp conditions.  The high was only 43 degrees, twelve degrees colder than average.  After morning showers, no rain fell during game time but showers resumed in the evening.

 

• 2012 - Because today was cold (high of 43/low of 38) and rainy, two March records were NOT set.  The month's mean temperature ended up at 50.9 degrees, 0.2 degree below the 1945 record, while the morning's rainfall of 0.26" brought the month's total precipitation to 0.96", preserving March 2006's distinction as driest March on record (0.80").  Still, this was the twelfth month in a row with above average temperatures, matching a 12-month streak in 1998-99.  Furthermore, this was the driest Jan-Feb-March since 1985.       

Looking Back at New York Weather: March 2

 

• 1994 - With today's four-inch snowfall (an additional inch fell the next day), New York's total snowfall for the winter passed fifty inches, the most since the winter of 1977-78 (when 50.7" was measured).  Today's snow was the fifth that accumulated four inches or more this winter.

 

• 1996 - With today's snowfall of 4.6" Central Park set a new winter snowfall record, with 66.3" measured.  It passed the winter of 1947-48 when 63.2" fell (and included NYC's largest snowfalll of all-time).  Even more distance would be created between this and the previous record by an additional ten inches of snow in the next month.

 

• 2006 - After today's 0.52" of precipitation (including 1.3" of snow), the rest of the month would receive only 0.28" more, making this the driest March on record. 

 

• 2007 - 2.41" of rain poured down in the morning, with the last drops over by 11AM.  It was a record amount for the date.

 

2009 - 8.3" of snow fell from a quick-moving storm that moved in last night (when 1.8" fell), making it the largest accumulation of the winter - and the most in three years.  12-15" fell out on Long Island.  This was the last snowfall of the winter, the greatest accumulation for this occurrence since the winter of 1981/82.

 

Today in New York Weather History: February 15

 

• 1980 - Today was the 24th day in a row with no precipitation.  Total precipitation for Jan/Feb was just 2.76 inches, half of what typically falls in these months.  These twenty-four days were also cold as temperatures averaged 3 degrees below normal. 

 

• 1984 - 1.73" of rain fell today, with 0.75" of it pouring down in a 60-minute period between 6:45-7:45 AM.

 

• 1986 - The 0.1" of snow that fell today is the only measurable snow to fall on this date between 1971-2012.

 

• 1987 - Today was the coldest day of the winter, with a high/low of 22/4, twenty degrees colder than average.

 

Cold & Dry: A Snow Lover's Nightmare

Some of New York's biggest snowstorms have come in the depths of Arctic deep freezes (e.g., the blizzard of January '96 and the President's Day snowstorms of 1979 and 2003).  But there have also been stretches of cold weather in which very little snow has fallen, the most notable being the bitter cold December of 1989.  Temperatures were 11 degrees below average but just a little more than an inch of snow fell.  And although meager snowfall during mild winter weather is to be expected, a lack of it during cold weather is torture for snow bunnies. 

 

The chart below lists the ten least snowy periods during cold weather, ranked by degrees below average (for winters between 1960 and 2012).  

 

	# of	Degrees	Total
Period	Days	Below Average	Snowfall
Nov 29 - Dec 29, 1989	31	-10.8 degrees	1.4"
Dec 9-18, 1988	10	-10.0	0.3"
Dec 18, 1983 - Jan 2, 1984	16	-7.4	2.0"
Dec 11, 1980 - Jan 2, 1981	23	-6.1	3.1"
Jan 17 - March 9, 2007	52	-5.8	6.9"
Dec 1-29, 2000	29	-5.5	1.4"
Jan 24 - March 3, 1980	40	-3.3	2.7"
Dec 3-30, 1985	28	-2.6	0.9"
Dec 29, 1961 - Feb 1, 1962	35	-1.5	1.5"
Jan 15 - Feb 13, 1992	30	-1.2	2.5"

 

Today in New York Weather History: December 29

 

• 1982 - Today's high was 65, the seventh day this month with a high in the 60's.  It was also the eleventh day with a mean temperature 15 degrees or more above average. 

 

• 1984 - Just two days after a 5-inch snowfall the afternoon high soared to a record 70 degrees - 31 degrees above average.

 

 

• 1987 - 2.6" of snow fell, the month's only snowfall.  (However, 1.1" of snow had fallen on November 11.)  And with a high of 31 degrees, this was the first day of the winter with a maximum temperature of 32 or colder. 

 

• 1993 - Four inches of snow fell between 6PM-2AM.  It was the biggest accumulation of the month, besting the 2.9" that fell on December 11.

 

• 1998 - Only 1.12" of precipitation was measured this month and most of it fell today as 0.71" of rain fell.  The entire second half of 1998 was very dry.  After 36 inches of precipitation fell in the first half only 12.15" fell after July 1.      

 

• 2009 - Today was 10 degrees colder than average.  It was the year's 50th day with a variation in mean temperature of +/-10 degrees, the fewest such days for the period 1979-2012 (a typical year has 69).    

 

• 2012 - With a high/low of 34/30, today's mean temperature was two degrees below average, the first colder than average day since December 6.  This was also the last day of the year with precipitation.  The 0.26" that fell brought the year's total to 38.51", more than eleven inches below the norm.  This was the first time since 2001 that less than 40 inches fell.    

Today in New York Weather History: December 20

 

• 1983 - Today's high was a teeth chattering 25 degrees, seventeen degrees colder than average.  It was the first high of freezing or below of the season.   

 

• 1988 - This was the 22nd consecutive day with no measurable precipitation.  The dry spell began at the end of November, a month in which 8.90" of rain fell.  December would end with just 1.13" of precipitation.

 

• 2004 - Brrr, today's high/low of 21/11 was twenty degrees colder than average and the coldest day of the month.  (The temperature dropped from 47 degrees yesterday afternoon.)  0.5" of snow fell in the wee hours of the morning.  This was the coldest day in December in eleven years, since a high/low of 20/10 on December 27, 1993.  It was also the first day this winter to be completely below freezing.

Today in New York Weather History: November 28

Of the three days of the year most likely to have one-inch rainfalls (based on records going back to 1979), two are two days apart: November 26 and 28.  (The other date is March 26).  On these days rainstorms of one-inch or more have occurred five times.

 

• 1976 - The 0.32" of rain that fell this morning was the most to fall all month.  Until today just .02" of precipitation had fallen - and it fell nineteen days earlier.  This month would pass November 1931 (which reported 0.60") to beccome the driest November on record.

 

• 1979 - Today was the ninth day in a row in which the mean temperature was 10 degrees or more milder than average.  The high/low during these days was 66/53, sixteen degrees above normal - more typical of late-April.

 

• 1980 - 1.05" of rain fell between 10AM-1PM.  1.68" fell during the entire rain event.

 

• 1985 - It was a raw and rainy Thanksgiving Day.  The high/low was just 41/37 and 1.15" of rain fell, mostly during the afternoon and evening.  At the time it tied 1935 as the rainiest Turkey Day (later topped in 2006).  

 

• 1993 - It rained for most of the morning (3AM-noon), but well over half of the 1.45" total, 0.89", fell in just an hour (10:09-11:09 AM) - and 0.44" fell in a 15-minute period.    

 

• 1994 - 1.05" of rain fell today, ending by 5PM.  This was the fifth time an inch or more of rain fell on this date since 1980.  (It hasn't happened since.)

 

• 1996 - A cold, cold day as the temperature stayed below freezing the entire day (high/low of 31/23) - the first time in seven years it happened in November.  Additionally, the first measurable snow of the season dusted Central Park with 0.1".  Despite how little fell, the next snowfall wouldn't be for another six weeks, on January 9 (when just 0.9" was measured).

 

• 2011 - Today's high of 70 was twenty-one degrees above average and a record for the date.  It was the warmest reading in seven weeks, since a high of 73 on October 11.  In the past three weeks temperatures have been six degrees above average, and eight days had highs of 65 or warmer.