2023 off to gloomy start

The first month in 2023 is now done and the verdict is: cloudy. This past month ran a bit warmer than average with overnight lows about 3º above average and daytime highs a single degree above normal. The month was relatively drama free but limited to just two days of sunshine which happened to come on the last three days of the month and under chilly temps. There was measurable precipitation on 21 of 31 days almost all of in in the form of rain. Just one day have snowfall and that only stuck for a few minutes measuring a trace of about 0.1 inch. 

Temperatures ranged from a chilly 13.4º on the morning of the 30th to a balmy afternoon high on the 8th of 52.6º. The warmest overnight low arrived on the 13th with 47.3º and the chilliest afternoon high arrived on the 29th with 38.1º. Obviously we managed to get above freezing on every single day in January 2023. We only had 4 days with temperatures below freezing and just the one day under 20º so really a rather uneventful temperature range. The 13.4º low on the 30th was not quite enough to break my local 21 year record for the day which was 13.3º and that is the coldest January day since I started keeping my records, so that was almost a monthly record low :) I did have a local 21 year daily record high last month recorded on the 9th with 51.2º. Another odd record was the high on 29th of 38.1º just barely edged out the previous record low maximum temp. 

January delivered a whopping 8 days with highs above 50º and only 3 days that failed to reach 40º. There were 11 days with overnight lows above 40º. The month delivered 21 rainy days against just 2 sunny days and the wettest day was a modest 0.51 inch on the 12th which was one of 7 days producing a 1/4 inch or more. Total rainfall was well below average with just 4.29 inches landing in my bucket. The only snow came in flurries of snow and graupel on the 23rd sticking only for a short while.

February can be a mixed bag as normal temps tend to float in the 50s by day and upper 30s by night. But deep freezes can happen as well as heavy snow, we shall see.

December is done, and so is 2022

December was a bit of a wild one! I had ten, count them, ten daily records at my house this past month. My records date back 22 years. This was a mix of daily record highs, daily record lows for both maximum and minimum temps. The month had some snow, ice, and plenty of rain.

Temperatures started out pretty normal with lows right around freezing and highs in the upper 30s and low 40s. But starting mid-month we saw some chilly morning lows in the teens. Four daily record morning lows were recorded on the 17th and the 21st-23rd. They were 18.5º, 19.8º, 17.4º, and 21.9º respectively. None of these were the coldest of the year however that came back in February with a mark of 14.8º. I also recorded to daily record minimum high temperatures on the 22nd and 23rd with 27.5º and 27.1º respectively, the latter being the chilliest afternoon high of the year. What followed those chilly days was a warm and wet front that rolled through bringing some unseasonably warm air in to the region. On the 27th and 30th I recorded both daily record highs and daily record high minimum temperatures of 44.1º L and 56º H on the 27th and 40.7º L and 54.1º H on the 30th. The 27th had the warmest overnight low and the warmest daytime high of the month. 

December yielded 11 sub freezing mornings and 2 days that failed to get above freezing at all. There were 5 days that did not drop below 40º overnight and 9 days that failed to reach 40º at all.  

About an inch of ice
accumulated on 12/23/22

Precipitation was well above average for rain and about average for snow. I got 9.38 inches of rain in the bucket along with 1.5 inches of snow and 1.1 inches of ice. Average rainfall for December at my house is 8.02 inches and typical snowfall is 2.49 inches. The ice event just before Christmas was the most ice accumulation since 2004. The wettest day was the 27th no surprise it was the warmest day as well, 2.60 inches of sloppy wet rain fell and that was also the wettest day of the year. December managed to produce 11 days with at least 1/4 inch of rain. Just 2 days were sunny. All of the snowfall fell on the 4th and the ice came in a three day stretch from the 22nd-24th. Christmas was an icy mess. 

The year in review:

2022 was marked with a mild first quarter followed by a surprise April snowstorm that dropped 4 inches of snow over two days. A fairly typical coolish spring followed by a pretty darn average summer. The Autumn was very atypical with October producing California like warmth and breaking several records. December brought the potpourri of weather wet and wild with some snow and the second worst ice storm I have recorded, the biggest ice event came in Jan of 2004. Below are some statistics for the year.

• Wettest day, 12/27: 2.60 inches
• Snowiest day, 4/11: 3.5 inches
• Hottest day, 7/26: 100.1º
• Coldest high, 12/23: 27.1º
• Warmest night, 8/18: 72.9º
• Coldest low, 2/23: 14.8º
• Total rainfall 2022: 48.77 inches (average 53.36)
• Total snowfall 2022: 7.05 inches (average 8.57)
• Days over 100º 2022: 1 (average 0.6)
• Days over 90º 2022: 23 (average 12.8)
• Morning lows < 32º: 37
• Sub freezing highs: 2
• Sunny days: 93
• Rainy days: 135
• Days with .25 inch rain: 54 
• Average low 2022: 46.23º
• Average high 2022: 62.76º

Happy New Year!