NOUS42 KILM 031353 PNSILM PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC 853 AM EST WED MAR 3 2010 ...METEOROLOGICAL WINTER COMES TO AN END... METEOROLOGICAL WINTER IS DEFINED AS THE TIME PERIOD BETWEEN DECEMBER 1 AND THE END OF FEBRUARY. THE METEOROLOGICAL WINTER OF 2009/2010 WILL GO DOWN AS ONE OF THE COLDEST ON RECORD FOR NORTHEAST SOUTH CAROLINA AND SOUTHEAST NORTH CAROLINA. THE WINTER WAS CHARACTERIZED PRIMARILY BY WELL BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES ACROSS THE AREA AND ABOVE AVERAGE PRECIPITATION. WHAT WAS INTERESTING ABOUT THIS WINTER IS THAT THERE WERE VERY FEW DAILY RECORD COLD TEMPERATURES SET AT ANY OF THE CLIMATE STATIONS. THE COLD WAS MORE IMPRESSIVE FOR ITS DURATION THAN ITS INTENSITY...AND THAT IS WHAT MAKES THE 2009/2010 WINTER SO MEMORABLE. THREE MAJOR EVENTS WILL BE REMEMBERED FROM THIS WINTER...THE RECORD COLD DURING THE BEGINNING OF JANUARY...THE ABNORMALLY COLD ENTIRE MONTH OF FEBRUARY...AND THE BIGGEST AND MOST WIDESPREAD SNOWSTORM TO AFFECT THE AREA SINCE 2000. AT WILMINGTON, NC: MONTH AVG T AVG LOW PRECIP DECEMBER 47.7/-1.2 38.1/-0.0 8.86/+5.08 JANUARY 41.3/-4.8 31.9/-4.8 3.42/-0.99 FEBRUARY 41.9/-6.6 31.2/-6.3 4.23/+0.57 --------------------------------------------------- WINTER 43.6/-4.3 33.7/-3.4 16.51/+4.66 WILMINGTON HAS A PERIOD OF RECORD OF 136 YEARS: FOR JANUARY...THE 41.3 DEGREE AVERAGE RANKS AS THE 13TH COLDEST. FOR FEBRUARY...THE 41.9 DEGREE AVERAGE RANKS AS THE 9TH COLDEST. FOR THE DJF PERIOD...THE 43.6 DEGREE AVERAGE MAKES IT THE 10TH COLDEST WINTER EVER AT WILMINGTON! OTHER STATISTICAL NOTES ABOUT THE WINTER: JAN/FEB BOTH AVERAGED LESS THAN 32 FOR MONTHLY LOW TEMPERATURES. ON RECORD...THIS IS ONLY THE 5TH TIME THAT BOTH MONTHS HAVE AVERAGED BELOW FREEZING DURING THE SAME WINTER. (LAST DONE IN 1978). JAN/FEB BOTH ALSO HAD MONTHLY AVERAGE TEMPERATURES BELOW 42 DEGREES. THIS IS ONLY THE 3RD TIME ON RECORD THAT BOTH MONTHS AVERAGED THIS COLD IN THE SAME WINTER. (1958, 1978) WILMINGTON SAW 54 DAYS BETWEEN DECEMBER 1 AND FEBRUARY 28 WITH A HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 55 DEGREES OR LESS...55 DEGREES IS THE COLDEST AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE DURING THE WINTER. THIS 54 IS THE 3RD HIGHEST TOTAL ON RECORD AND 17 ABOVE THE AVERAGE OF 37 IN ANY GIVEN WINTER. THERE WERE 48 DAYS WHEN WILMINGTON HAD A LOW TEMPERATURE BELOW FREEZING. THIS IS THE 8TH GREATEST NUMBER OF DAYS ON RECORD...AND 15 ABOVE THE AVERAGE OF 33 DAYS PER WINTER. WHAT IS MORE IMPRESSIVE ABOUT THIS...IS THAT WILMINGTON DID NOT OFFICIALLY HIT FREEZING UNTIL DECEMBER 12TH...WHICH WAS THE 8TH LATEST DATE FOR A FIRST FREEZE! OF COURSE...WILMINGTON ALSO SAW A SNOWSTORM THIS WINTER. THE 3.8 INCHES OF SNOW THAT FELL ON FEBRUARY 12TH/13TH WAS THE GREATEST SINGLE EVENT AT WILMINGTON SINCE 5.0 INCHES FELL ON JANUARY 25TH/26TH OF 2000. NOTABLES: JANUARY 2ND THROUGH 11TH (10 DAYS) - LOW TEMPERATURE AT OR BELOW 28 DEGREES. THIS IS THE 2ND LONGEST STREAK ON RECORD. JANUARY 2ND THROUGH 16TH (15 DAYS) - LOW TEMPERATURE AT OR BELOW 32 DEGREES. THIS IS THE 6TH LONGEST STREAK ON RECORD. FEBRUARY 11TH THROUGH 21ST (11 DAYS) - LOW TEMPERATURE AT OR BELOW 32 DEGREES. THIS IS THE 19TH LONGEST STREAK ON RECORD. AT FLORENCE, SC: MONTH AVG T AVG LOW PRECIP DECEMBER 44.5/-3.5 35.4/-2.0 5.03/+1.56 JANUARY 40.6/-4.7 29.6/-5.6 3.30/-0.78 FEBRUARY 40.7/-8.0 30.3/-7.2 2.87/-0.16 --------------------------------------------------- WINTER 41.9/-5.4 31.7/-5.0 10.84/+0.62 FLORENCE HAS A PERIOD OF RECORD OF 61 YEARS: FOR JANUARY...THE 40.6 DEGREE AVERAGE RANKS AS THE 11TH COLDEST. FOR FEBRUARY...THE 40.7 DEGREE AVERAGE RANKS AS THE 3RD COLDEST. FOR THE DJF PERIOD...THE 41.9 DEGREE AVERAGE MAKES IT THE 3RD COLDEST WINTER EVER AT FLORENCE. OTHER STATISTICAL NOTES ABOUT THE WINTER: JAN/FEB BOTH AVERAGED LESS THAN 31 FOR MONTHLY LOW TEMPERATURES. ON RECORD...THIS IS ONLY THE 4TH TIME THAT BOTH MONTHS HAVE AVERAGED BELOW FREEZING DURING THE SAME WINTER. (LAST DONE IN 1978). JAN/FEB BOTH ALSO HAD MONTHLY AVERAGE TEMPERATURES BELOW 41 DEGREES. THIS IS ONLY THE 3RD TIME ON RECORD THAT BOTH MONTHS AVERAGED THIS COLD IN THE SAME WINTER. (1968, 1978) FLORENCE SAW 64 DAYS BETWEEN DECEMBER 1 AND FEBRUARY 28 WITH A HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 55 DEGREES OR LESS. THIS RANKS AS THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF DAYS IN A SINGLE WINTER THAT MEET THIS CRITERIA AT FLORENCE. THE SECOND HIGHEST IS ONLY 57 (1978)...AND FLORENCE AVERAGES 38 DAYS PER WINTER WITH HIGHS OF 55 DEGREES OR LESS. THERE WERE 61 DAYS WHEN FLORENCE HAD A LOW TEMPERATURE BELOW FREEZING. THIS IS THE 11TH GREATEST NUMBER OF DAYS ON RECORD...AND 9 ABOVE THE AVERAGE OF 52 DAYS PER WINTER. NOTABLES: JANUARY 2ND THROUGH 11TH (10 DAYS) - LOW TEMPERATURE AT OR BELOW 26 DEGREES. THIS IS THE 2ND LONGEST STREAK ON RECORD. JANUARY 2ND THROUGH 16TH (15 DAYS) - LOW TEMPERATURE AT OR BELOW 32 DEGREES. THIS IS THE 8TH LONGEST STREAK ON RECORD. DECEMBER 28TH THROUGH JANUARY 14TH (18 DAYS) - HIGH TEMPERATURE AT OR BELOW 55 DEGREES. THIS IS THE 5TH LONGEST STREAK ON RECORD. JANUARY 29TH THROUGH FEBRUARY 18TH (21 DAYS) - HIGH TEMPERATURE AT OR BELOW 55 DEGREES. THIS IS THE 3RD LONGEST STREAK ON RECORD. RECORDS: RECORD LOW DAILY MINIMUMS SET ON JANUARY 3 (14), JANUARY 7 (18), AND FEBRUARY 1 (20). AT NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, SC: MONTH AVG T AVG LOW PRECIP DECEMBER 48.9/+1.4 40.5/+3.4 8.70/+5.40 JANUARY 41.6/-5.1 32.2/-4.6 2.44/-0.86 FEBRUARY 43.5/-3.7 34.2/-3.7 3.62/-0.98 --------------------------------------------------- WINTER 44.7/-3.7 35.6/-1.7 14.76/+3.56 NORTH MYRTLE BEACH ONLY HAS AN ASOS RECORD OF 10 YEARS. FOR JANUARY...THE 41.6 DEGREE AVERAGE RANKS AS THE 2ND COLDEST. FOR FEBRUARY...THE 43.5 DEGREE AVERAGE RANKS AS THE RECORD COLDEST. FOR THE DJF PERIOD...THE 44.7 DEGREE AVERAGE IS THE 2ND COLDEST EVER. NORTH MYRTLE BEACH SAW 53 DAYS WITH HIGHS OF 55 OR BELOW...AND 38 DAYS WITH LOWS OF 32 DEGREES OR LESS. A RECORD DAILY MINIMUM OF 21 DEGREES WAS SET ON JANUARY 7TH. THE TEMPERATURE RECORD IS DISCONTINUOUS BACK TO 1949. $$ JDW