Public Weather Statements

000
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