New York Weather Highlights: New Year's Eve (Dec. 31)

 

 

1892 (Saturday)

This was the eleventh day in a row with a high of 32° or colder.  The average high during this streak was 26°.  This chill, however, would end on New Year's Day when the temperature rose into the low 50s after nightfall.

 

1895 (Tuesday)

This was the fifth day since 12/20 to have a high of 60°, which was the mildest reading of the month.  It wouldn't be this mild again until 3/31.

 

1907 (Tuesday)

On the night of the first ball-drop in Times Square, the temperature was in the mid-30s under fair skies.

 

1917 (Tuesday)

The year ended on a bitterly cold note, one of New York's coldest days on record, as the high/low was only +6°/-7°.  When the ball dropped in Times Square the temperature was one degree above zero - by far the coldest ball-drop temperature (the second coldest reading, 9°, occurred 100 years later).  And the wind chill was around -20°.

 

 

1926 (Friday)

Today's snowfall of 0.4" (which fell after 9 PM) was the eleventh day this month with measurable snow, with all but one of these days getting less than an inch.  The one day to see more than an inch was 12/5 which had 7.9", the biggest snowfall of the winter.  The other ten days with measurable snow had a combined total of 3.8".

 

1935 (Tuesday)

Today's high was 29°, making this the eleventh day in a row with a sub-freezing high temperature.  The average high/low during these days was 26°/16°, fourteen degrees below average.  (Later in the winter, in February, there would be a twelve-day streak with highs of 32° or colder.)

 

1948 (Friday)

This was the rainiest as well as snowiest New Year's Eve on record as the temperature fell during the day from 52° to 25°.  Total precipitation was 1.40"; four inches of snow fell during the evening (and an additional 1.5" fell after midnight).  The second half of December was, like today, very wet and snowy, with six inches of precipitation measured, and 25.3" of snow. 

 

 

1962 (Monday)

With a high/low of just 13°/4° (25 degrees below average), this was the second coldest New Year's Eve on record (as mentioned earlier, 1917 was the coldest).  The cold was made even more bitter by high winds that gusted between 35-45 mph.  When the ball dropped at midnight in Times Square the temperature was 11°, with a wind chill of around 15° below zero.  This last day of 1962 was the coldest of the entire year, much colder than Feb. 11, the second coldest day, which had a high/low of 25°/4°.

 

 

1967 (Sunday)

December ended much like November, with light snow falling from mid-afternoon to a little past midnight on New Year's Day.  In total, 3.3" fell, with three inches of it accumulating today.

 

1970 (Thursday)

High temperatures over the past ten days ranged between 30°-34°, about eight degrees colder than average. 

 

1972 (Sunday)

Today was the nineteenth day this month to have measurable precipitation (0.36" fell), the most for any month in the 20th century (tied just five months later in May 1973, and many years later in May 2019).  The temperature rose throughout the day, and when the ball dropped in Times Square it was a very mild 59°.

 

1973 (Monday)

It was a raw and damp end to the year.  Between 11 PM and midnight 0.05" of rain fell, and the temperature was 33° when the ball dropped in Times Square.  Today's 0.29" of rainfall brought the month's total precipitation to just under ten inches (9.98").

 

1975 (Wednesday)

Showers moved in after dark, and between 11 PM and midnight 0.05" of cold rain fell.  When the countdown to 1976 took place, the temperature was in the mid-30s.  This was the fourth year in a row to have rain falling when the ball dropped at Times Square.

 

1980 (Wednesday)

It was a frosty end to the year, with a high/low of 27°/14°.  The morning low was the coldest for the date since 1962's +4°.

 

1987 (Thursday)

After a quite cold morning low of 15°, the temperature rose to 40° by midnight.

 

 

 

1989 (Sunday)

This was the only day of this very cold month with an above average mean temperature (high of 53°/low of 31°).  It was also the wettest New Year's Eve since 1948 as 0.52" fell - the only significant rainfall of a bone dry month in which just 0.31" was measured before today. 

(Going into December it appeared 1989 would go down as the wettest year on record as only 2.76" was needed to pass 1972's total of 67.03", but it was not to be.)

 

1992 (Thursday)

The temperature rose to a very mild 61°, one degree warmer than last year, and the mildest reading on the last day of the year since 1965's record of 63°.

 

1993 (Friday)

It was a very cold end to the year as today and the past five days averaged 11 degrees below average (high of 27°/low of 16°).  This frigid trend would continue in January.

 

1996 (Tuesday)

A cold front moved through during the afternoon and by midnight the temperature had plummeted to 15°, with a wind chill near zero.

 

1998 (Thursday)

Today's high/low of 25°/17° made this the coldest day of the month.  The previous three years also had very cold morning lows on this date: 17°, 17° and 15°.

 

2001 (Monday)

Whereas 1989's bitterly cold December ended on a mild note, this December, which was the mildest on record (until 2015), ended cold, with a high/low of 31°/20°.  This would be the coldest day of the mild winter of 2001-02.  Five of the past six New Year's Eves had temperatures well below average (the exception being 1999's high/low of 43°/34°).

 

 

 

2003 (Wednesday)

The last ten days of the year were close to 10 degrees milder than average (high 51°/low 38°).

 

2006 (Sunday)

The year ended with twenty-one days in a row with above average temperatures, which averaged 12 degrees milder than normal.  During these days no temperature of freezing or colder was reported.  This was also just the second December to have no measurable snow, nor even a "trace".

 

2008 (Wednesday)

This morning's low of 18° was the coldest on this date in ten years.  

 

2009 (Thursday)

1.5" of snow fell, the first measurable snowfall on New Year's Eve since 1967, when three inches accumulated.  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.  (Dec. 2009 and 2008 both ranked among the ten wettest)  

 

 

 

2011 (Saturday)

The year ended on a mild note, with a high of 54°/low of 46°, the tenth day of the month in which temperatures were ten degrees or more above average.  Today was sixteen degrees above the norm.  The month ended up being the fourth mildest December on record (now ranked seventh).  It was also just the third December since 1900 to have no measurable snow, or even a "trace" (the second such December was five years ago). 

 

2012 (Monday)

The morning low of 28° tied 12/30 and 12/26 as the coldest reading of the month.  In the past 40 years no December had a minimum temperature this mild (the previous record was 26° in 1974).  The typical coldest temperature in December is 16°.     

 

2014 (Wednesday)

Under sunny skies, it was a frosty close to the year, with a high/low of 32°/27°.  (Last year also ended with a high of 32°.)  Today's high was the first this winter at 32° or colder, nine days later than average. 

 

2015 (Thursday)

With a high/low of 48°/42°, today was the 18th day this month with a mean temperature that was 10 degrees or more above average.  Thus ended the first month on record in which no day reported a below average mean temperature.  (December's chilliest day, 12/19, was two degrees above average, with a high/low of 40°/35°).  

 

2017 (Sunday)

The coldest reading of the entire year occurred tonight when the temperature fell to 9° shortly before midnight (wind chill was -5°).  This was the second coldest reading for the ball-drop at Times Square, besting 1962's temperature by two degrees (2017 was also the 100-year anniversary of the coldest ball-drop reading).  Today, with a high/low of 20°/9°, was the sixth day in a row with a high colder than 32°, and the fifth in a row colder than 25°.  The last time New York experienced this many consecutive days with highs of 25° or colder was in January 2004.

 

 

2018 (Monday)

Light rain that moved in mid-afternoon became a soaking rain after 7:30.  Not only was this the first New Year's Eve since 1994 in which rain fell during the ball drop in Times Square, it was also the wettest New Year's Eve since 1948.  This was the fourth day since 12/16 to have more than an inch of rain and it brought December's rainfall well above six inches (no measurable snow fell this month), making it the fifth month of the past six to have six inches or more.  Finally, today's 1.02" rainfall moved 2018 up to fourth place on the all-time list of wettest years (65.55", more than fifteen inches above average). 

 

2021 (Friday)

It was an overcast day, but temperatures were unseasonably mild, with a high/low of 55°/48°.  The high was the mildest on New Year's Eve since 2004 (and 12th mildest overall), and the low was the third mildest (after 1965 and 1884).  When the countdown to 2022 began in Times Square, the temperature was 51°, making this the mildest end to a year since 2004, and the fifth mildest reading in all the years of the ball drop (since 1907).

 

2022 (Saturday)

Last year's mild conditions were topped this year as the temperature was three degrees milder when the new year arrived (54° vs. 51°).  Only three other years have ended on a milder note (1966 <58°>, 1973 <58°>, and 1993 <55°>).  And the day's high of 55° was equal to last year.'s  The day's mean temperature  was 18 degrees above average, a complete turnaround from a week ago which was 26 degrees colder than average (high/low of 15°/7°).  Despite showers during the afternoon and evening, the rain stopped about half an hour before midnight.

 

 

 

 

 

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Comments

[William]

i don't know if you wrote this somewhere but 0.23" of precipitation fell on this date in 2009, bringing the year's total to 53.62". just 0.01" more than in all of 2008. i wonder if there was another set of consecutive years where the yearly precipitation totals were this close together.

[Rob]

That's a great observation, one that, surprisingly, I didn't comment on. (I let the seven years in a row with 50+ inches of precip capture my attention.) Thanks for pointing it out. The previous two years that were closest in annual precipitation were 1944 an 1945, which were 0.03 inches apart (45.01" vs. 44.98"). And although there was a year in between them, 1934 and 1936 were also 0.01" apart.

[William]

in terms of their snowfall amounts, what's the closest that any two consecutive winter seasons have been to each other?

[Rob]

The winters of 1916 and 1917 actually had the same amount of snow - 50.7 inches. More recently the winters of 2005 and 2006 were just one inch apart - 41.0 and 40.0 inches, respectively.

[Harry Mandel]

You have to edit the 1917 entry as it still says that 11-deg in 1962 was the 2nd coldest ball drop, when it was last year's 9-deg.

This could be the first ball drop since 1994 to be raining during it, but we'll see....

[Rob]

Hi Harry, thanks for catching that - it's been updated.

[William]

in 2018, the amount of rain that fell since 12/13 was 5.87", the third wettest in December's final nineteen days on record, behind 6.06" in 1948 and 6.64" in 1973. by contrast, in 2017, during the very same date range in December, an inch of precipitation fell, the driest in December's final nineteen days since 2004 when 0.90" of precip fell.

[William]

also in 1967, this was the first time measurable precipitation fell on this date since 1952, when 0.30" fell (which produced three inches of snow).

[William]

What's the closest that any two consecutive calendar years have been to each other in terms of their snowfall amounts?

[Rob]

I haven't compiled snow totals by calendar year, but perhaps a reader of the blog has done so and can share it.

[Ken K.in NJ]

Hi Rob. First of all, Happy New year and thanks for the Blog all year!

I know I've seen your New Years Eve entry before since I've been following your blog for several years now, but I just noticed that you have no entry for 1965, wasn't that the warmest ball-drop ever, or close to it?

It's on my mind because last night I had a video chat with an old friend whose birthday is today and we were discussing his 17th birthday/New Years Eve party, 12/31/65. We both remembered how warm it was sitting outside in Brooklyn. But mainly it was only the 2nd time either of us got drunk....

[rob]

And wishing a happy new year to you as well, Ken! And thanks for sharing your memories from a number of days of interesting weather events. Although I didn't make explicit mention of 1965, it was mentioned in the entry for New Year's Eve 1992.