New York City Weather Archive

Today in New York Weather History: May 10

• 1970 - Today's high was 93 degrees, making this the hottest Mother's Day on record.

 

• 1979 - For the second day in a row the high temperature was a record 94 degrees. 

 

• 1989 - A steady, all-day rain (heaviest between 10AM-8PM) amounted to 2.10".  Besides being very wet, the day was also very chilly, with a high/low of only 53/46, eleven degrees below average.

 

• 1990 - One year after more than two inches of rain fell on this date, 1.67" of rain fell, most of it coming during thunderstorms between 2-10PM, fell today.  

 

• 2000 - After three days in a row with 90-degree highs, today saw a return to reality as the morning low was 51 degrees. 

 

• 2012 - The rain that fell mostly before daybreak made this the eighth day of the past ten in which some rain fell, totaling 1.84".     

A Look Back at New York Weather: May 8

 

• 1980 - Today's chilly high of 56, twelve degrees below average, came three days after a high of 90.

 

• 1984 - This was the fourth day in a row with a high temperature of 69 degrees (one degree above average).  And three of the mornings had lows of 53 (two degrees above average). 

 

• 2000 - Today's high was 91, the second day in a row in which a record was set. 

 

• 2011 - It was a near-perfect Mother's Day, with a high of 74, five degrees milder than average.  Bright sunshine in the morning gave way to a mix of sun and puffy cumulus clouds during the afternoon.  

 

• 2013 - Nearly two-and-a-half inches of rain poured down during morning rush hour - twelve times the amount that fell in the previous twenty-five days (0.19").  Including additional showers that moved thru at lunchtime, 3.02" fell in total, equal to the amount measured during the previous eight weeks.  Manhattan was the bulls-eye for this torrential rain - the biggest rain storm since September 2011, and the most rain to fall in a 24-hour period in May since 1978.  Additionally, today's amount was a record for the date, breaking the previous one set in the 19th century.

Today in New York Weather History: May 1

• 1978 - This morning's low of 38 degrees, eleven degrees below average, was the last time the temperature dipped into the 30's in the month of May.

 

• 1989 - The rainstorm that moved in this evening was the first of five to produce an inch or more of rain between now and May 24.  Today's rain, which continued through 9AM tomorrow, amounted to 1.58".

 

• 1990 - With a high of 83 degrees, this first day of May turned out to be the warmest temperature of the entire month.  And the chilliest day would fall near the end of the month, on May 22, when the morning low would fall to 44 (a record for the date).  

 

• 2001 - Today's high of 87 was a record for the date, and the first of four consecutive record highs.  The next three days would have highs of 90, 90 and 92.

 

• 2012 - A few hours of hard rain fell around daybreak, with 0.58" measured between 4:30-7AM.

Today in New York Weather History: April 27

 

• 1990 - The day's temperature soared from 51 to 91.

 

• 1994 - 0.41" of rain fell during a twenty-minute thunderstorm later in the afternoon (4:27-4:47 PM).  After a cool start (low of 50), it turned into a warm day as the high reached 82.

 

• 2007 - 2.07" of rain, a record for the date, brought April's rainfall total to 13.05".

Looking Back at New York City Weather: April 26

 

• 2009 - Today's high reached 92 degrees, a record for the date and twenty-seven degrees above average.  It came just three days after a cool high of 57.  It would be nearly four months before it got this hot again.  This was the second day of a four-day springtime heat wave that saw high temperatures of 88-92-84-90.  (The typical high in late April is in the mid-60's.) 

A Look Back at New York City Weather: April 19

• 1978 - The 1.96" of rain that fell between 8:30AM and 9PM accounted for much of the month's precipitation.  It was also a record amount for the date.  Today's high got up to only 50 degrees, twelve degrees below average.  

 

• 1983 - 0.8 inches of snow fell in Central Park, the City's latest measurable snowfall in 100 years (0.5" fell on April 24, 1883).  However, despite the snow, a cold rain was the main feature of the day.  The high/low of 43/34 made this the chilliest day of the month.

 

• 1985 - Today's high of 88 was a rebound of 43 degrees from yesterday morning's low of 45.

 

• 1992 - This was the fourth day in a row with nearly identical high/low temperatures:  47/40, 46/41, 47/40 and 47/41 (today).  These chilly highs were sixteen degrees colder than average.

 

• 2002 - It appears Mother Nature cut & paste a summer heat wave in the midde of the spring as the high/low of the past four days averaged 92/71, 26.5 degrees above normal.  After highs in the 90's the previous three days, today "cooled down" to 89.  The next 90-degree day wouldn't be for another two months (June 26).

 

• 2004 - The afternoon temperature soared to 85 after a morning low of 48.

 

• 2007 - Today was the 16th, and last, day in a row with colder than average temperatures, the longest such string of days during springtime in the years I've lived in NYC (since 1979).  During this streak the mean temperature was 8 degrees chilllier than average.  Nine days had lows in the 30's.  

 

 

Today in New York Weather History: April 18

 

• 1980 - It was a very pleasant day for the Yankees home opener as skies were sunny and the temperature rose into the mid-60's.  Unfortunately, for the second year in a row the Yankees lost. 

 

• 2002 - The morning low was a stifling 76 degrees, which would be uncomfortable even in the middle of the summer.  This was 13 degrees warmer than the average high for the day.  And although the high was 92, it wasn't a record.  The record was 96 degrees, which was set in 1976.

A Look Back at New York City Weather: April 16

 

• 1985 - What a glorious day for baseball as the high reached 75 degrees and the Yankees in their home opener beat the White Sox on a walk-off home run by Don Baylor in the bottom of the 9th innning.

 

• 1996 - 1.04" of rain fell between 1-4AM and 2.19" overall (including rain from last night that fell after 10PM).  Most of the rain was over by 9AM.  This storm's rainfall equalled the amount of precipitation (in liquid form) from the blizzard back on January 7-8.

 

• 2000 - Today had the mildest reading of the month, 75 degrees.  This was the last April with no days in the 80's (through 2013).    

 

• 2002 - This was the first day of a very early four-day heat wave with the following high temperatures:  92 degrees today; 96 on 4/17; 91 on 4/18; and 89 on 4/19.  And talk about bad timing, I had my air conditioner taken out of my apartment yesterday to have it cleaned and serviced.  Interestingly, there was a nearly identical mid-April heat wave back in 1976 that started one day later.  It also lasted four days and had the same four high temperatures, only in different order.  (To read more about 90-degree weather in April, doubleclick here.)

 

• 2003 - After a morning low of 51 the afternoon high soared to 88, twenty-seven degrees above average.  Then a cold front moved through and the temperature dropped 30 degrees by midnight.  Today's high wouldn't be topped for ten weeks.

 

• 2007 - After yesterday's 7.57" of rain an additional 0.84" fell this morning.  In total, rain fell for 36 consecutive hours.

 

• 2011 - A nasty storm system moved in later in the afternoon and buffeted the area with 40-50 mph winds and 1.78" of rain, most of which fell today.  Nearly half of the rain poured down between 8-10PM. 

 

• 2012 - It felt like mid-summer as skies were sunny and the high soared to 88, twenty-five degrees above average.  This was the first 80-degree day of the year, not far from the typical day of NYC's first 80, which is April 20.  However, it was three weeks earlier than the usual date for the first 85+ reading.  Today was also the ninth day this year with a mean temperature 20 degrees+ above average, well above the typical number for an entire year (four).   

 

 

A Look Back at New York City Weather: April 8

 

• 1986 - After showers at daybreak the sun came out and for the second year in a row the Yankees home opener was played with temperatures in the mid-70's.  And like last year, the Yankees won.

 

• 1991 - Today's afternoon high was a sizzling 90 degrees, a record for the date and the first of thirty-nine 90-degree days this year (a record number of days which would be tied two summers later).  It was also NYC's earliest date ever for a 90-degree reading until 2010 (when the mercury hit 92 on April 7).  Today also happened to be the Mets home opener, played in the afternoon heat.    

 

• 2003 -  Yet another cold beginning to the Yankees season.  This game tied the snowy one of 1996 as the coldest home opener in the 1979-2013 period and was played one day after four inches of snow fell.  The temperature at game time was just 37, twenty-one degrees below average, and more typical of mid-winter.  As a result just 33,000 showed up for the game as opposed to the usual 55,000 sell-out. 

 

• 2007 - Today was Easter Sunday and it was the coldest since 1940 as the high was only 41 after a frosty morning low of 30.

 

 

• 2011 - The Mets home opener was played in gray and raw conditions with afternoon temperatures well below average (high of 49 degrees).  This was quite a difference from last season's home opener which was played under sunny skies and with temperatures in the 70's.

 

• 2012 - It was a sunny and pleasant Easter Sunday, with a high of 67, nine degrees above average.

 

• 2013 - With a high of 73, today was the first day of the year with a temperature in the 70's.  This was the first 70-degree reading since October 15, a gap of 176 days, which was the 3rd longest span between 70-degree readings in the 1979-2013 period.  The longest span was 196 days in 1983/84 (Nov. 14-April 26) and 189 days in 2002/03 (Oct. 7-April 15).  The typical number of days is 137 (Nov. 9-March 25).   

Today in New York Weather History: April 7

April 7 is a study in contrasts.  Not only is it the latest date for a sub-freezing high temperature (1982), it's also the earliest date for a high in the 90's (2010). 

 

• 1982 - In the aftermath of yesterday's snowstorm, the morning low was 21, twenty-one degrees below average and the coldest reading so late in the year since April 1, 1923 (when the temperature dropped to 12).  Today's afternoon high of 30 was the latest date on record for a below-freezing high.

 

• 1990 - The last snowfall of the winter fell at around daybreak, a surprise 0.6".  It didn't last long, however, as the temperature rebounded into the low 50's under sunny skies.  A total of 13.4" of snow fell during the winter, the third winter in a row with well below average snowfall.   

 

• 2003 - Four inches of snow fell, the biggest April snowfall in twenty-one years.  This brought the season's snowfall total close to 50 inches.

 

• 2010 - The afternoon high hit 92, an incredibly hot temperature for so early in the season.  In fact, it was New York's earliest 90-degree reading on record, besting the previous record from 1991 by one day.  This temperature was 34 degrees above average - even in mid-July today's high would have been five degrees hotter than normal.  At 11PM it was still 80.  The next 90-degree reading would be seven weeks later, when it was 92 on May 26.