Today in New York Weather History: February 7
In the years since 1920 (thru January 2022), snowfalls of four inches or more have occurred six times on Feb. 7, the most of any date. They've occurred in 1939 (4.4"); 1967 (12.5"); 1979 (5.0"); 1986 (4.3"); 2003 (5.3") and 2021 (4.5").
1918 (Thursday)
This was the first day since 12/24 to be completely above freezing.
1941 (Friday)
2.96" of rain fell, a record for the date (which still stands). Although it began at around daybreak, the rain fell heaviest between 3-7 PM, when 1.84" was measured.
1965 (Sunday)
The biggest rainstorm of the year began this evening and continued through the early hours of the following day, amounting to 1.79". In what would be New York's driest year on record, this amount would be greater than the rainfall received in six of the year's months.
1967 (Tuesday)
A blizzard buried the City under 12.5" of snow in a 12-hour period (5 AM-5 PM). Besides the heavy snow (which fell at a rate of an inch or more per hour for six consecutive hours), what made this blizzard even more noteworthy was the extreme cold, as the day's high/low was just 16°/9° (the day's low occurred at 1 PM). Winds gusting between 25-35 mph produced wind chills between -5° and -15°.
1977 (Monday)
With a high of 28°, today was the thirty-fifth day of the past forty-three (since Dec. 27) with a high of 32° or colder. During these frigid six weeks, temperatures were ten degrees below average.
1978 (Tuesday)
Yesterday's blizzard wound down during the morning, adding 2.2" of accumulation. This brought the storm's total to 17.7", making it New York's biggest snowstorm since Dec. 26-27, 1947 when 25.8" buried the City (its greatest accumulation until February 2006). Snow would be on the ground in Central Park for the next five weeks.
1986 (Friday)
It was a snowy Friday as 4.5" of snow fell (0.2" of this amount fell shortly after midnight on Saturday).
1988 (Sunday)
Since Feb. 1 low temperatures were in steady decline: 50° (2/1)-34°-28°-22°-19°-14°-9° (today).
1994 (Monday)
This was the first day since Jan. 3 with less than an inch of snow on the ground in Central Park, a span of five weeks. But the ground would lay bare for little more than a day as two snowstorms loomed on the horizon.
2003 (Friday)
5.3" of snow fell, more than what fell in all of January (4.7"), and the third five-inch+ snowfall of the winter.
2020 (Friday)
The record high for this date, 54° in 1938, was the coolest reading to be a record, but it was broken today during lunchtime; however, at 56°, it was still the coolest reading to be a record. It is one of just four record highs to be in the 50s; the others are: Jan. 16 (58°); Feb. 2 (59°); and Dec. 19 (58°). A vigorous cold front moved through early in the afternoon, dropping the temperature to 33° by midnight (a peak wind gust of 46 mph was clocked at dusk in Central Park; at JFK the peak gust was 59 mph). This was the coldest reading so far this month, making it just the second February on record to have no lows of 32° or colder in the first week (the other occurrence was in 1877).
2021 (Sunday)
Today was Super Bowl Sunday, and up until this year the most snow to fall on this occasion was 1.5" in 2000. However, that mark was easily eclipsed today, when a fast moving storm dropped 4.5" from mid-morning thru late afternoon. It was a wet snow, that began falling when the temperature was 37°, and the temperature didn't reach 32° until early afternoon. This brought the month's snowfall to 19.9".
I saw at trace of snow was recorded at Central Park today. I am wondering if this is the first/only time a record high and snow were recorded on the same day (assume post 1900 since obviously the first years of record would have record highs all the time)?
Posted by: Harry | 02/08/2020 at 09:34 AM
I don't know, but on Feb. 9, 2017 the City had 9.4" of snow the day following a record high that was in the low 60s.
Posted by: rob | 02/09/2020 at 12:06 PM
Hi Rob. About the 4 remaining record highs in the 50's. I decided to take a look at the 1970 edition of the NY Daily News Weather Almanac to see what the situation was at that point (i.e. thru 1969). At that point there were still 12 dates with record highs in the 50's, actually somewhat less than I thought there would be.
The earliest calendar date for a record high in the 50's was December 19, record high of 58 in 1931 (still standing, as you pointed out), and the latest date was February 17 with a record high of 59 in 1871. The lowest record high at that point was 51 degrees on February 3, 1927.
Posted by: Ken K. in NJ | 02/07/2021 at 12:04 PM