Today in New York Weather History: January 10

 

1889 (Thursday)

Although every one of the first ten days of January had a low in the 30s, none were 32° or colder.  The average reading, 36°, was eleven degrees above average.

 

1919 (Friday)

Today's low of 10° was the coldest reading of the winter (it would be repeated two days later).  What makes this worth noting is the contrast with the previous winter, which had the most readings colder than 10° on record (20).  

 

1965 (Sunday)

Today had the biggest snowfall of the winter as 6.3" of snow fell between 9 AM and 11 PM.  This came one day after the high was 55°, the mildest reading of January.  Today's temperature fell from 40° shortly after midnight into the upper 20s by the time snow began falling and held steady for the rest of the day.

 

 

 

1984 (Tuesday)

A coastal storm drew Arctic air down from New England, changing rain that began in the early evening to snow after 9 PM.  A total of 5.1" fell by 3 AM, with 3.4" of it falling tonight.  This was the first snowfall of an inch or more this winter and the largest accumulation of the month.

 

1993 (Sunday)

It was overcast, breezy and cold, with the winter's first snowfall of an inch or more falling after dark; by midnight 1.1" had accumulated.  And with a high of 27°, today was the only day this month to have a high of 32° or colder.

 

2004 (Saturday)

This was the coldest day of the winter, with a high of 15°/low of +1° (24 degrees below average).  The low was the coldest in 10 years - and the mean temperature of 8° made this the coldest day of this century (until Feb. 14, 2016).

 

 

2007 (Wednesday)

The winter's first trace of snow was reported today - the latest date for this occurrence in more than 100 years.  It was also the 32nd day in a row with an above-average mean temperature - and the first day with a below-freezing low since Dec. 9.  During this span, temperatures were 12 degrees above average.  

 

2016 (Sunday)

A record amount of rain fell, with much of it falling in the morning between 4-10 AM.  The 1.80" that was measured in Central Park topped the old record from way back in 1881 by 0.09".  Besides the rain, temperatures were very mild as the high reached 59° in the early afternoon.

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Comments

[William]

The winters of 1975 and 2019 are the only two to not have any low temps of 23° or colder from November 24 to January tenth.

[William]

the 2007 entry is incorrect. the winter of 1871 didn't experience its first trace of snow until as late as January 21 when 0.4" of snow fell.

[Rob]

You're right. For the first six years of this blog I mostly confined my findings to the 20th and 21st centuries (actually, in the first year of the blog I confined my analyses to the years I'd been living in NYC). It wasn't until last year that I discovered the NWS source I use now, which goes back to 1869. Because of this it requires some revision of findings, which is a slow process. I've updated the entry for 2007.

[Harry]

HMM....I wonder if there is a glitch in those very early records....

The NWS NYC website says there was 3" of snow for December 1870 on the part showing a table of monthly snow totals, but if you go into their NOWdata, it shows what William is saying, no snow at all in December (or November), and the first trace or more being the 0.4" on Jan. 21. So I don't know if there's a missing 3" entry somewhere or if saying there was 3" that month is the error, though the NOWdata record doesn't seem to say any day has missing data.

Interestingly, when the 2007 record first came out, the NWS said the record it broke was the winter of 1877-78, when the first trace (actually was 1.0") fell on January 4, 1878. I believe it was the only other winter in which no snow at all fell until January (except for 1870-71 if it is really true it didn't snow until Jan 21). But the strange thing is NOWdata for that winter says a trace fell on November 10, 1877, the reverse of the issue with 1870-71. The day shows a high of 51 and a low of 34....maybe it happened when it was close to the low temp...or not at all).