Today in New York Weather History: December 23
1883 (Sunday)
It was a frigid, frigid day with a high/low of just 10°/-1°.
1896 (Wednesday)
One week after a snowfall of seven inches, six inches fell beginning last night and continued through this morning, followed by another round during the evening as an Arctic front moved through. What was curious about this snowfall was the fact that it had a very low water content (0.25" was measured) despite temperatures that were 32° or above last night through daybreak today, and rain was mixed with the snow at times.
1930 (Tuesday)
The biggest snowfall of the winter, 3.9", began this afternoon and continued through dusk on the 24th, providing a mantle of white for Christmas Day.
1959 (Wednesday)
Today's high/low of 23°/9° (eighteen degrees below average) made this the coldest day of the winter of 1959-60.
1963 (Monday)
Snow began falling shortly before 3 PM and by midnight six inches had accumulated, with 0.3" added in the wee hours of 12/24. The temperature didn't vary much as the high/low was 32°/28°.
1989 (Saturday)
The morning low of 6°, twenty-three degrees below average, was the coldest reading of the month and the entire year. With today's frigid temperatures, 1989 became the year with the most days with mean temperatures 10 degrees above or below average (in the years since 1960; later broken in 2015).
1990 (Sunday)
It was a record-setting day as the high reached 66° after a low of 57° - a staggering 28 degrees above average - quite a change from a year ago!
1998 (Wednesday)
This was the first day since Nov. 22 to have a colder than average mean temperature. It was also the first day this winter completely below freezing. Today's high/low of 29°/18° was in sharp contrast to the 55°/42° averaged in the first three weeks of the month.
1999 (Thursday)
Somewhat similar to this date last year, today was the twenty-first day in a row with above average temperatures. Temperatures were seven degrees above the norm during this three-week span.
2004 (Thursday)
A strong cold front blew through during the afternoon, producing thunderstorms with 40-50 mph wind gusts. These storms caused extensive airport delays. My flight to Pittsburgh, where I was going to visit my mother for Christmas, was cancelled (I rescheduled for the next morning). Today's high of 59° came just three days after a morning low of 11°, the month's temperature extremes.
2015 (Wednesday)
Eleven years after my flight home to Pittsburgh was cancelled due to inclement weather, it happened again! (This time, however, I couldn't get a flight until Christmas Day, so I took Amtrak.) 1.55" of rain was measured, falling just 0.07" short of setting a new record. Most of the rain fell between 3-9 PM. Besides being rainy, it was also mild, with a high of 64°.
2022 (Friday)
An intense, fast moving storm (a "bomb" cyclone) brought a record amount of rain during the morning followed by Arctic cold that swept in with wind gusts of 40-65 mph (peak gust in Central Park was 45 mph). After peaking at 58° before sunrise, the temperature fell for the rest of the day and was down to 8° just before midnight, establishing a new record for the greatest drop in temperature during the course of a calendar date (the previous record was a 48-degree drop on March 28, 1921).
Total rainfall was 1.83”, with much of it falling in the hour between 4-5 AM when 1.33" was measured. Today’s rain made December the wettest month of the year (5.55”), only the fourth December to have this distinction (joining Decembers of 2019, 1973, and 1957).
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