New York Weather Highlights of 2009
JANUARY
1 - A bone-chilling start to the year, with a high/low of 26°/15°, twelve degrees below average.
15 - After a light snowfall during the AM (one inch fell), the afternoon was clear and quite cold, with a high temperature of only 22°. These were the conditions that met US Airways Flight 1549 when it made its famous "miracle" landing on the Hudson River in the middle of the afternoon.
16 - With a high/low of 16°/9°, today was the coldest day of the winter, nineteen degrees below average. This was also the coldest winter day in five years.
23 - Today's high of 47° was the mildest reading of a very cold month.
FEBRUARY
3 - 4.3" of snow fell, the only snowfall of the month.
5 - Today's high/low of 23°/12° made this the coldest day of the month.
MARCH
2 - 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 snow of the winter.
3 - Following yesterday's snowstorm, this morning dawned very cold with a low of 12° degrees. And today's afternoon high of 26° was a record for coldest high temperature for the date.
7 - Just four days after a low of 12° today's high reached 70°.
26 - A gray day and rainy late afternoon/evening (0.40" fell) limited the day's temperature range to just three degrees (high/low of 45°/42°).
APRIL
3 - Rain that fell mostly during the morning hours ended with an early afternoon downpour that dumped 0.42" of rain in a 30-minute period between 12:37-1:07 PM. During that half hour 0.25" fell in one 5-minute period.
20 - Rain during the PM hours dumped 1.79", with 0.87" falling between 8:19-10:19 PM. More precipitation fell today than in the entire month of March (1.75"). Temperatures were on the chilly side, with a high/low of 50°/42°, eight degrees below average.
25 - What a spectacular start to my weekend summer share out at Fire Island as the afternoon high soared to 88° (in New York) after a low of 52°. This was the sixth time a diurnal variation of 33 degrees or more occurred on 4/25 - tying 4/19 for the most of any calendar date.
26 - Today's high reached 92°, 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-60s.)
29 - One day after the high reached 90° today's temperature fell steadily throughout the day and was in the 50s by afternoon.
MAY
2 - The 0.11" of rain that fell between 3-5 AM made this the sixth year out of the past seven in which some rain fell on this date (and in nine out of the past twelve years).
5 - Gray and drizzly conditions persisted for a fifth day in a row, keeping the temperature from rising very much; the high was 54° (fourteen degrees below average) after a morning low of 51°.
6 - Between 11:30 and midnight 0.63" of rain poured down; half of it fell in just five minutes.
7 - Rain fell for the seventh day in a row, a period in which 3.81" fell (1.06" fell today).
9 - Rain fell for eight of the past nine days. 4.43" fell during this damp beginning of May, but only 0.74" would fall for the rest of the month.
JUNE
4 - Rain that began late last night continued until daybreak today, amounting to 0.87" (0.54" fell this morning). This was the fifth year in a row that rain fell on this date.
9 - In just fifteen minutes time 0.75" of rain thundered down in the wee hours of the morning (1:41-1:56 AM). Rain continued until 7 AM and totaled 1.80".
12 - Today was the last day this month with above-average temperatures. The next day with above-average readings wouldn't be until July 28, a stretch of 46 days!
18 - 2.30" of rain fell today, a record for the date. Rain fell until 4:30 PM, preventing the afternoon temperature from getting no higher than 64°, sixteen degrees below average. Today's rain brought the month's total to 7.61", making this the rainiest month since April 2007.
23 - This morning's low of 66° was nothing remarkable except for the fact that it was the warmest low temperature of the month, making it the coolest maximum low temperature (got that?) in the period 1979-2024. 1979 was the only other year in the period that didn't have a low of 70° or warmer in June.
30 - Today's high of 84° was the warmest reading of a cool June - the coolest since 1958. The 0.66" of rain that fell today brought the month's total past ten inches. It missed passing June 2003 as the wettest by 0.20". Rain fell on eighteen days.
JULY
4 - In the sixteen days between June 19 and today morning lows fell in the narrow range of 63° to 66°, two degrees cooler than average.
8 - The day's low of 58° was the last time July had a low in the 50s until 2021 (when a low of 59° was reported on 7/3).
15 - For the fifteenth day in a row temperatures were below average in what became one of the coolest Julys on record (only two days had above-average readings). During this fifteen-day period temperatures averaged five degrees below average. Eleven of the days had highs in the 70s.
16 - Today's low of 70° was the first in the 70s this year, the latest of any year since 1920 (when it occurred on 8/9). It came six weeks after the typical date of this occurrence (June 4). In total, the year would have eighteen such days, half of the average number (and the fewest since 1992's fourteen).
17 - The afternoon high of 86° was the warmest reading of the month, the coolest July maximum temperature on record.
26 - In just five minutes 0.46" of rain fell between 5:23-5:28 PM, and 0.99" fell in the half hour between 5:12-5:42 PM.
28 - Today was the first day this month with an above-average mean temperature (high of 85°/low of 71° = mean of 78°) - and it was just one degree above average.
AUGUST
2 - 0.59" of rain fell between noon-1 PM. All told, 1.05" of rain fell today, making it the rainiest day of the month. This was also the fourth rainstorm of an inch or more since 7/21.
10 - Today's high of 91° was the first 90-degree reading since April 28 (four more would follow next week).
17 - Today's high/low of 92°/75°, nine degrees above average, made this the hottest day of a cool summer.
18 - A quick-moving, but severe, thunderstorm struck shortly before 10 PM and produced a micro-burst that downed more than 500 trees in Central Park and Riverside Park between West 90th and 106th Streets - the most destructive storm in the history of these storied parks. 0.64" fell during the short lived storm. Besides the violent wind and rain the storm was noteworthy for its vivid lightning and booming thunder.
19 - Today was the fourth day in a row of 90-degree weather, and the last 90-degree day of the year. In total, only seven days were in the 90s this year - the fourth year in a row that was well below the average of eighteen days. (Last year had twelve, 2007 had ten and 2006 had eight).
21 - As a cool summer wound down, today was the seventh day in a row with a high temperature of 88° or higher.
22 - 0.40" of rain fell between 2-3 AM and 0.74" in total. A lot more rain fell in New Jersey and north of Westchester County.
26 - This morning had the last low in the 70s of the year - the earliest date for this occurrence since 1968 (when it happened one day earlier). The average date for the last 70-degree reading is Sept. 11.
SEPTEMBER
11 - A coastal storm that somewhat resembled a tropical storm buffeted the area with wind gusts of 30-45 mph and 0.84" of rain.
OCTOBER
1 - Today's high was a chilly 55°, more typical of the second week of November, and the chilliest high on the first day of October in the years since 1960.
2 - Although the showers that moved through after 11 PM produced just 0.06" of rain, it was the first rain on this date in 13 years.
15 - Today was raw, windy, rainy and unseasonably cold (high of 48°/low of 37°). Outlying suburbs of New Jersey picked up one to two inches of snow. This came in the midst of an eight-day stretch (10/12-19) in which temperatures were 11 degrees below the norm for mid-October.
18 - This was the fourth day in a row in which temperatures failed to get out of the 40s. It was also the sixth day of the past seven in which temperatures were 10 degrees or more colder than average.
28 - 1.29" of rain fell thru mid-afternoon, making this the third year of the past four to receive more than an inch of rain on this date.
31 - It was a very mild day (high of 71°) but light rain began falling just as the Greenwich Village Halloween parade was getting underway. Although just 0.17" fell over five hours this was the first rain to fall on Halloween night in 14 years.
NOVEMBER
6 - Sunny and brisk, a perfect day for the Yankees victory parade in lower Manhattan to honor the team upon winning their 27th World Series title a few days earlier over the Philadelphia Phillies. The high/low of 50°/37° was six degrees chillier than average.
8 - Today's high of 69° was the mildest reading of the month, rebounding from the month's chilliest reading (35°) the day before.
13 - Light showers after 9 PM amounted to 0.04", making this the seventh time in eight years that rain fell on this date.
25 - There was just a two-degree variation between today's high (51°) and low (49°).
DECEMBER
3 - Today's high of 66°/low of 49° was seventeen degrees above average.
11 - Windy and quite cold. Today's high of 29° was the first high temperature below freezing this winter.
13 - Today's rainfall of 0.95" brought the year's total precipitation over fifty inches for an unprecedented seventh year in a row.
19-20 - A snowstorm moved in late in the afternoon and by the time it ended at around 4 AM on Sunday 10.9" had fallen. This was the first snowfall of the winter. Long Island received considerably more, with parts of Suffolk County buried by more than 20". There would still be plenty of snow on the ground when Christmas arrived.
29 - Today was 10 degrees colder than average. This was the year's 50th day with a variation in mean temperature of +/- 10 degrees, the fewest such days since 1969 (which had 48).
31 - 1.5" of snow fell, the first snowfall on New Year's Eve since 1967 when three inches fell. 2009 was the seventh year in a row with more than 50 inches of precipitation. The average over these years was 56.40", seven inches above average. This December's total precipitation of 7.27" surpassed the previous December's 6.62", making it the wettest since 1973.
This precipitation also brought the year's total precipitation to 53.62", which was 0.01" more than last year - the closest any two consecutive years have been to each other. This passed the 0.03" difference between 1945 and 1944.
To read highlights from other years between 1970 and 2023 double click here.
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