New York Weather Highlights of 1991

 

 

JANUARY

11 - 5.7" of snow fell during the afternoon/evening before changing to rain overnight as temps rose into the mid-30s (close to one inch of rain fell).  Despite the changeover it was a record amount of snow for the date.

22 - This was the coldest day of a mild winter, with a high/low of 20°/10° (sixteen degrees below average).

 

FEBRUARY

5 - Today's high of 70° was an incredible 31 degrees above average and the third day in a row with a record high.  Yesterday's high was 68° and the day before that was 64°.  This was the City's earliest 70-degree temperature since Jan. 26, 1950.  (Later passed in 2007 when the high reached an incredible 72° on Jan. 6.) 

10 - In the past nine days temperatures averaged 17 degrees above normal (high/low of 56°/41°), more typical of the first week in April.

17 - Today was the 20th day in a row in which no high temperature was duplicated.  During these days the highs ranged from 27° (yesterday) to 70° (2/5).

22 - Today's high of 66° broke the record high set last year (63°).  Then a cold front moved through during the evening and the temperature fell to 38° just before midnight.  The cold was ushered in by winds that gusted near 40 mph.

26 - A surprise snowstorm dumped 8.9" of wet snow, the biggest accumulation in eight years (since 17.6" buried the City in on Feb. 11-12, 1983 ).  Because the temperature was just above freezing for much of the day the snow didn't accumulate much on the streets or sidewalks.  This was the winter's third snowfall of five inches or more.

 

MARCH

3 - 2.17" of rain fell today (2.54" when the rain that continued until the wee hours of the next day is included), with nearly an inch of it falling between 9-10 PM.  The day's rainfall was more than what fell in the entire month of February and was the biggest rainstorm since Aug. 10 of last year.

23 - Raw and drizzly with just two degrees of separation between the day's high (40°) and low (38°). 

28 - After a seasonable high of 53° yesterday, today's high soared to 77°.

30 - 0.2" of snow fell today, two days after a high in the upper 70s.  This was the only snow that fell in March, and the final snowfall of the winter.  (24.9" in total fell during the winter, the most since 25.4" fell in the winter of 1983-84.)  Despite the snow the temperature never fell below freezing.

 

APRIL

8 - Today's afternoon high was a sizzling 90°, a record for the date and the first of thirty-nine 90-degree days this year (a record number of days that would be equaled two summers later).  It was also New York's earliest date for a 90-degree reading until 2010 (when the mercury hit 92° on April 7).  Today was also the home opener for the Mets, played this afternoon (the temperature at Shea Stadium may have been a bit cooler because of its proximity to the ocean).

13 - Today was the 16th day in a row in which no high temperature was duplicated.  During these days highs ranged from 47° to 90°.

15 - In contrast to the summer-like conditions the Mets experienced during their home opener a week earlier, the Yankees' home opener was played in a steady, light rain with temperatures hovering around 50°, well below average.  

21 - A steady, cold rain, sometimes on the heavy side, fell throughout the day and amounted to 2.28" - a record for the date.  The high was only 46°, fourteen degrees below average.

 

MAY

6 - A soaking rain, mostly between 5AM-noon, amounted to 1.39".  This was the seventh year in a row in which rain fell on this date.

12 - Today was Mother's Day and it was mostly sunny and quite warm, with a high of 89°.

14 - 0.51" of rain thundered down in just 20 minutes during a nighttime thunderstorm (10:25-10:45 PM).

17 - Today's high was 83°, the seventh day in a row with a high temperature of 80° or warmer.  The average high during this week was 84°, thirteen degrees above average. 

25-27 - Highs of 93°-81°-89° made this the second warmest Memorial Day weekend of the 1971-2015 period, eleven degrees above average.  At 93°, Saturday tied the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend 1975 for the hottest day of any Memorial Day weekend in the Monday holiday period.  On the night of Memorial Day an inch of rain fell between 10 PM and 2 AM, the first rain in two weeks.

31 - This was the warmest May on record, 6.7 degrees above average.  From May 11 onward temperatures were nine degrees warmer than average.  These three weeks had temperatures more comparable to the second half of June.  Ten days had highs of 85° or warmer (and three others had highs of 84°).  And today was no exception as the high/low of 91°/71° was fourteen degrees hotter than the norm.  This was the fourth time in the past six years that the high on this date was in the 90s.

 

JUNE

1 - Fourteen of the past twenty-one days had temperatures 10+ degrees above average.  The mean temperature during these three weeks was nine degrees above normal (high of 84°/low of 63°).

3 - During a nighttime thunderstorm 1.72" of rain poured down in just 45 minutes, from 9:07-9:52 PM.  (And during that deluge 0.84" fell in a 15-minute period between 9:23-9:38 PM.)  It was also the eleventh day in a row in which the high temperature was 80° or warmer.  (As well as 20 of the past 24 days.)

11 - After a high of 90° rain moved in after 4PM and by midnight 0.99" had fallen - the first rain on this date in 12 years.  The rain came down heaviest between 8-9 PM when 0.43" fell.  Today was the 20th day in the past two months with a high temperature of 85° or warmer.

16 - It was a miserably hot and humid Father's Day under hazy sunshine.  The day's high/low of 94°/76° was fifteen degrees above average.  There hasn't been a reading in the 90s on this date since (through 2022).

20 - The day after an unseasonably cool high of 66° the temperature today soared to 92°.

28 - Today's sweltering high of 96° was a record for the date.

29 - Today's high of 97° was the hottest reading of the month.

30 - This was the fourth day in a row with a high in the 90s.  Temperatures during these days: 91°-96°-97°-90°.

 

JULY

18 - The high today was a blistering 99°.

21 - Today's scorching high of 102° made this the hottest day of the summer.  The last time it was this hot in New York was on this very date in 1980.  Some relief arrived when a thunderstorm dropped 0.46" of rain between 5-6 PM.

23 - Today was the sixth day in the past seven in which the high temperature was 96° or hotter (the exception was yesterday's 89°).  After a high of 99° a thunderstorm between 4-6 PM dropped a half inch of rain. 

24 - Nine of the past ten days had highs in the 90s; four days were at 99° or higher.  In addition to today's heat ("only" 90), a late afternoon thunderstorm dropped 0.39" of rain in an hour (4-5 PM).

26 - In just 30 minutes 1.10" of rain flooded the area in the middle of the afternoon (2-2:30 PM).  During this half hour 0.33" fell in five minutes and 0.73" in fifteen minutes.  For the entire five-hour rain event (between 1:30-6:30 PM) 1.85" fell.

 

AUGUST

9 -  Three inches of rain fell in a 12-hour period between 11AM-11PM.  During one of these hours (8:22-9:22 PM) 1.04" poured down.

19 - Hurricane Bob struck the eastern end of Long Island and then southeastern New England and Cape Cod.  The impact on New York City was heavy rain, mostly between 2 AM-noon, that amounted to 2.53".

20 - The day after Hurricane Bob brushed the City an additional 1.19" of rain fell today between 2 PM and midnight, but it was unrelated to the hurricane.

 

SEPTEMBER

2 - Today was Labor Day and the morning low of 53° tied it with 1976 and 1883 as the chilliest reading on the holiday.  

11 - Today was the 100th 80-degree high of the year, the first time that threshold was passed in the years since 1970.  (It would be joined later by 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2016.)

16 - Today's steamy high of 91°/low of 72° was 13 degrees above what's typical for mid-September.

17 - Today's high of 93°, seventeen degrees above average, was the record setting 39th 90-degree day of the year - tied two years later (18 days is the average).  It was also a record for the date. 

25 - 1.97" of rain fell but it was dry during the daylight hours (between 9AM-6PM).  Today's rain accounted for more than half of the month's 3.71" total.

 

OCTOBER

5 - Today was the 19th day this year with a low of 65°, which is the most times a low temperature occurred in any one year in the 1980-2019 period.  (In 2005 the high of 82° occurred twenty times, which is the most frequent high temperature during any year.) 

25 - Today's high temperature and that of the past two days: 72°-71°-70° (today).  This compares to the average high of 61°.

27 - Although skies were mostly cloudy the afternoon high reached 75°, fifteen degrees above average.  This was also the sixth day in a row with a high in the 70s.

31 -  An intense nor'easter (made famous by Sebastian Junger's book The Perfect Storm) brought gusty 30-40 mph winds but stayed far enough off the coast that New York received just a a trace of rain.  

 

NOVEMBER

9 - Today was the 23rd day in a row with no rain, the longest dry spell since the winter of 1979-80 when one of twenty-four days occurred.   

13 - This was the tenth day in a row with a morning low in the 30s.  However, none of the readings were at freezing or below.  The average during these days was 37°, six colder than average.   

20 - Today's high was 74°, twenty-two degrees warmer than average.

21 - This morning's low was a very mild 62°, twenty-four degrees above average and a record for the date.  It was the mildest low temperature in nearly seven weeks.

23 - Today was the fifth day in a row with temperatures 10 degrees or more above average.  During these days the average high/low of 67°/54° was 16 degrees above average.

30 - A very balmy high of 70°, 22 degrees above average, and a record for the date.

 

DECEMBER

5 - The first snow of the season fell between 10 PM and 3 AM but amounted to just 0.7" (most of it fell before midnight).  This would be the only measurable snow of the month and the amount wouldn't be topped for more than seven weeks (when 1.3" fell on Jan. 26).  Today was also quite cold with a high/low of 33°/24°, ten degrees below average.  This came just six days after the mercury hit 70°.

10 - In the three weeks between 11/30 and 12/20, today's high of 50° (six degrees above average) was the only one that occurred twice.  During these days the highs ranged between 27° and 70°.

19 - With a high/low of 27°/13°, today was the first day of the winter completely below freezing.  There would be just eight more of these days for the rest of the winter (the average is 17).

 

 

To read highlights from other years between 1970 and 2021 double click here.