A Look Back at 2023's Weather - New York's Warmest Year on Record
Despite a summer with temperatures that were slightly below average, 2023 unseated 2012 as New York City's warmest year on record. What captured the crown for 2023 were four very mild months: January (mildest on record, 9.8 degrees above average); February (third mildest); April (second mildest); and December (second mildest).
Although 2023 had the warmest average temperature on record (i.e., the average of the high and low), it ranked third for average high (behind 1991 and 1990).
Not only was the year very mild, it was also a wet one, the eleventh wettest on record, with 59.26" measured (2021 is ranked tenth, with 59.73".) Rainfall was nearly ten inches above average (and thirteen inches more than 2022). This ten-inch overage was largely due to September, which had 14.25" of rain - the fourth greatest monthly amount on record.
Despite the excessive precipitation, consistently mild wintertime temperatures (third mildest winter on record) weren't conducive to snow, and the 2.3" that fell (from three snowfalls of 0.4", 1.8", and 0.1") was the smallest amount Central Park reported for any winter. The previous winter with the least snowfall was 1972-73, with 2.8" (average winter snowfall is about 26").
The year had four months with 6.50” or more of rain: April (7.70"); August (6.56"); September (14.25"); and December (6.71"). These four months accounted for 60% of the year's precipitation. Only five other years have had this many months with 6.50" of precipitation (2018, 2007, 1989, 1983 and 1901).
Despite 2023 receiving ten inches more precipitation than average, it was the eleventh year to have three months in the first half of the year with less than two inches of precipitation. February and May were the driest months of the year, with both receiving just 1.28”. And June wasn't far off, with 1.62".
There were 12 days with highs in the 90s in 2023, the fewest since 2014, which had eight (average is 17 days). The year's hottest temperature was just 93°; the last time a summer had a hottest reading this "cool" was in 2014. Additionally, June had the fewest highs in the 80s since June 1985, and August was the first since August 1986 to have no readings in the 90s. But while the number of days in the 90s was well below average, the number of lows in the 70s was well above average (50).
Here are some other interesting aspects of 2023:
- Every day in January had above average temperatures.
- The winter of 2023's first measurable snow didn't happen until 2/1, the latest date for this occurrence of any winter.
- April 2023 became just the sixth April to have two days with highs in the 90s. And the low of 70° on 4/14 was the earliest reading in the 70s on record.
- The year's first reading in the 90s was very early, on 4/13, and the last reading in the 80s was very late, on 10/28.
- 2023's hottest reading of 93° was three degrees cooler than the typical hottest reading of a year, and the year's lowest temperature, 3° on 2/4, was six degrees colder than the typical coldest reading of a year.
- A typical year has 70 days with lows of 32° or colder, but in 2023 there were only 28 such days. And there was just one day with a high of 32° or colder (the average is 18 days).
- Three inches of September's rain fell in an hour on 9/29 (during a rainstorm that dumped 5.48" in total).
- The first three weeks of April had just 0.40" of rain, but the month ended up being the seventh rainiest April after 7.30” fell in the last nine days of the month. The rain was from three rainstorms, each producing more than two inches of rain.
- Smoke from forest fires in Canada choked the area in an orange-colored haze during June 7-8 and again on the last three days of the month (but it wasn't as bad as the first round).
Here are recaps of previous years: