Today in New York Weather History: December 2

 

1929

The season's first measurable snow fell during the afternoon into early evening, accumulating 3.9".  This amount was a record for the date (which still stands), and would be the biggest snowfall of the winter.  Besides snow, there were also periods of sleet.  Throughout the afternoon the temperature hovered around 29°.

 

1942

The mercury plummeted from 58° shortly before daybreak to 18° by midnight.

1952

The biggest snowfall of the winter of 1952-53, an accumulation of 4.5", fell over the course of two days.  It was a sloppy snowfall, with snow changing to rain today after 2.3" fell, before changing back to snow tomorrow during the morning, when an additional 2.2" accumulated.   

1974

Rain that began last night after 9 PM continued until daybreak today, amounting to 2.49".  (The 2.16" that fell today was a record for the date.)  Just before the rain came to an end, 0.80" poured down in the hour between 5-6 AM.

 

 

1996

In a 30-minute period (2:46-3:16 AM), 0.53" of rain poured down.  This was the parting shot from a rainstorm that began late on 11/30 and produced 1.82" of rain over the course of 32 hours. 

2007

The first snow of the winter fell this morning, the earliest date in eleven years (when it occurred on Nov. 28).  This morning's low of 20° was the coldest reading of the entire month.  However, the 1.4" accumulation was washed away tonight when rain moved in around 10PM.

 

2019

A sloppy early winter storm gave Central Park its first measurable snowfall of the season.  After a morning of rain, a changeover to light snow occurred around noon, and by midnight 1.3" had accumulated (an additional 0.3" fell overnight).  The accumulation might have been greater if the temperature hadn't been stuck at 33° for much of the afternoon (and not falling to 32° until after 8 PM).  This snowfall was about a week earlier than the typical first measurable snow, but three weeks earlier than the average date of the first snowfall of an inch or more.

 

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Comments

[John Taylor]

How about the nice sunny (albeit a little cold) Saturday on December 2nd of 1995, which broke a streak of what I believe was over 10 consecutive rainy Saturdays? I was in 1st grade and was on a kids Saturday soccer team that literally had every game rained out. We all got our money back.

[Rob]

Hi John,
It may have seemed like every Saturday in Sept., Oct. and Nov., but in reality (i.e., in NYC) there was a five-week period in which an inch or more of rain fell on four of the Saturdays: 1.76" on 10/14 (but it didn't start until 6PM); 2.17" on 10/21; 1.21" on 10/28; and 1.41" on 11/11. There was also 0.02" of rain on 10/7 (in late AM and early afternoon) and 0.19" on 11/18 (but at night).

Thanks for sharing your memories!

[Jeffrey Hirschman]

Did you think we will break the daily record today?

1929

The season's first measurable snow fell during the afternoon into early evening, accumulating 3.9". This amount was a record for the date (which still stands), and would be the biggest snowfall of the winter. Besides snow there were also periods of sleet. Throughout the afternoon the temperature hovered around 29°.

[Rob]

Based on the amount of liquid precipitation that fell after the changeover to snow occurred (0.43"), the record could have been challenged but it was difficult for the snow to accumulate as the temperature was stuck at 33 degrees all afternoon thru 8PM so just 1.3" was measured. This was somewhat similar to what happened during the winter storm earlier this year on 3/3-4, when 0.82" of liquid produced 5.0".