NOUS41 KCTP 011527 AAA PNSCTP PAZ004>006-010>012-017>019-024>028-033>037-041-042-045-046-049>053- 056>059-063>066-012100- PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 1027 AM EST TUE JAN 1 2002 ...THE YEAR IN REVIEW FOR HARRISBURG...2001 THE YEAR ENDED UP BEING A WARM AND DRY ONE IN THE CAPITAL CITY. THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THE YEAR WAS 53.9. THIS WAS 1.0 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL AND MARKS THE 5TH CONSECUTIVE YEAR OF ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES. THERE WERE NO DAYS OBSERVED LAST YEAR WITH TEMPERATURES BELOW ZERO. THE COLDEST READING OBSERVED WAS 6 ABOVE ZERO BACK ON JANUARY 22 AND 23. THERE WERE 3 HEAT-WAVES DURING THE SUMMER MONTHS. THE FIRST OCCURRED BETWEEN JUNE 27 AND 30. ANOTHER OCCURRED BETWEEN JULY 23 AND 25. THE LAST OCCURRED IN AUGUST THAT LASTED 6 DAYS. THIS HEAT WAVE OCCURRED BETWEEN AUGUST 5 AND 10 AND RESULTED IN A HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 99 ON AUGUST 8. THE YEAR WAS A VERY DRY ONE...THE SECOND DRIEST ON RECORD. JUST 25.76 INCHES OF RAIN FELL IN 2001. THE DRIEST YEAR WAS 1941 IN WHICH JUST 25.52 INCHES OF RAIN FELL. 2001 WAS ON TRACK TO BE THE DRIEST UNTIL THE VERY END OF NOVEMBER. JUST 1.51 INCHES OF RAIN OCCURRED IN NOVEMBER... HOWEVER 1.38 INCHES OF THAT OCCURRED IN THE LAST WEEK. THIS PUSHED THE YEARLY TOTAL UP OVER THE PREVIOUS LOWEST READING WHICH OCCURRED MORE THAN 60 YEARS AGO. THE PRECIPITATION TOTAL OF 25.76 INCHES WAS ALMOST 15 INCHES BELOW NORMAL. IN FACT, THE REGION IS UNDER A DROUGHT WARNING DUE TO THE LARGE DEFICIT IN PRECIPITATION. SEE THE STATE COLLEGE WEB PAGE AT: HTTP://WWW.NWS.NOAA.GOV/ER/CTP/HYDRO/DROUGHT/DROUGHT.HTML FOR FURTHER DETAILS. SNOWFALL WAS ALSO SPARSE WITH JUST 28.0 INCHES FALLING IN THE WINTER MONTHS OF 2000-2001. THE CALENDAR YEAR SAW JUST 22.4 INCHES. NOTE: THE APPARENT DISCREPANCY IS CAUSED BY THE WAY THE TWO STATISTICS ARE CALCULATED. SNOWFALL FOR THE WINTER IS CALCULATED USING DATA, WHICH STARTS IN THE LAST MONTHS OF THE PREVIOUS YEAR. FOR 2001, WINTER SNOWFALL INCLUDES SNOW THAT FELL FROM OCTOBER 2000 THROUGH APRIL 2001, OR WHAT WE TYPICALLY THINK OF AS THE "WINTER MONTHS". SNOWFALL FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR IS COMPRISED OF SNOW THAT FALLS FROM JANUARY THROUGH DECEMBER OF A PARTICULAR YEAR. THE FOLLOWING IS A SUMMARY OF THE YEAR IN STATISTICS. MONTH AVG TEMP +/- NORM PRECIP +/- NORM SNOW JAN 28.4-0.2 2.44" -0.40" 9.4" -0.4" FEB34.8+3.5 1.48" -1.45" 9.5" -1.3" MAR38.1-3.1 4.19" +0.91" 3.5" -2.0" APR51.5-0.1 1.72" -1.52" TRACE -0.6" MAY62.4+0.6 1.66" -2.60" JUN72.6+1.7 2.01" -1.84" JUL73.2-2.5 1.90" -1.69" AUG76.8+2.7 3.79" +0.48" SEP65.1-1.3 2.18" -1.33" OCT55.7+1.0 1.01" -1.92" NOV48.8+4.4 1.51" -2.01" 0.0" -2.1 DEC39.8+6.2 1.87" -1.37" TRACE -6.9 SUMMARY... AVERAGE ANNUAL TEMPERATURE:53.9... 1.0 ABOVE NORMAL NORMAL: 52.9 TOTAL ANNUAL PRECIPITATION:25.76"... 14.74" BELOW NORMAL NORMAL PRECIPITATION: 40.50" TOTAL ANNUAL SNOWFALL:22.4"... 13.3" BELOW NORMAL WINTER 2000-2001 SNOWFALL:28.0"... 7.7" BELOW NORMAL NORMAL SNOWFALL:35.7" WINTER 2000-2001 PRECIPITATION:7.91"... 1.10" BELOW NORMAL (46TH DRIEST) NORMAL WINTER PRECIPITATION:9.01" WINTER 2000-2001 AVERAGE TEMPERATURE:29.9... 1.3 DEG BELOW NORMAL (30TH COLDEST) NORMAL WINTER AVERAGE TEMPERATURE:31.2 SUMMER 2001 PRECIPITATION:2.57"... 8.18" BELOW NORMAL (17TH DRIEST) NORMAL SUMMER PRECIPITATION:10.75" SUMMER 2001 AVERAGE TEMPERATURE:74.2... 0.6 DEG ABOVE NORMAL (27TH WARMEST) NORMAL SUMMER AVERAGE TEMPERATURE:73.6 HIGHEST TEMPERATURE:99 ON AUGUST 8 LOWEST TEMPERATURE:6 ON JANUARY 22 AND 23 NUMBER OF DAYS WITH MAX TEMPERATURE 90 OR HIGHER:19 NUMBER OF DAYS WITH MAX TEMPERATURE 32 OR LOWER:11 LAST FREEZE OF SPRING:32 ON APRIL 29 FIRST FREEZE OF FALL:30 ON OCTOBER 9 HIGHEST WIND GUST:51 MPH ON FEBRUARY 10 $$ LA CORTE