Thursday, July 23, 2009

Tis' the season

Well, it has been AWHILE since my last blog posting. Mainly because the winter season ended AWHILE ago. Now I sit here looking at my window at a lot of green vegetation waiting for the hint that the season will soon be changing. This summer has yet to impress me, or anyone for that matter. Let's recap this whole year so far:

January- This month has 24 days without breaking freezing for daytime highs with the warmest day being just 42.8 degrees. The average high temperature was -8.6 degrees below the average and the coldest night in New Jersey history occurred on record where temperatures got near -20 in Walpack (That beats Mount Washington's coldest temperature this year)

February- Well the month was +0.8 degrees above average but the daytime high was -1.3 degrees below average. A lack of snow this month begun fear of a potential drought for 2009.

March- Came in like a lion with 3.3 degrees and nearly 1 foot of snow on the ground in the highlands. The average daytime high was -2.4 degrees below average and the month as a whole ended up -0.7 degrees below average. Went out like a lamb with highs near 60.

April- Snow was common in the first half of the month followed two weeks later by the HOTTEST weather of the year! A High of 89.3, that beats even the hottest day this summer so far and it snowed just two week prior. Because of the record heat wave the month was +2.5 above average while the average daytime high was -0.3 below average, even with the hottest weather of the year. In fact the 4 warmest days of the year happened from the 25th-28th, let's go over them in order by hottest:
1st- April 26th (89.3) (HOTTEST DAY OF THE YEAR)
2nd-April 27th (87.8)
3rd- April 28th (85.7)
4th- April 25th (84.7)
5th- July 16th (83.2) (HOTTEST DAY OF THE SUMMER)
6th- May 22nd (83)
7th- May 21st (81.4)
June 25th(81.4)
8th-July 17th (81.2)
9th-June 26th (80.1)
10th-May 20th(79.8) (70's in the top 10?)

May- Broke 80 just twice just two days after the 19th when a frost and freeze warning were issued for Sussex and Morris County. Average daytime high was -2.4 degrees below average, the 11th consecutive month with average high temperatures that don't go above average.

June- Just shy of 8.00" inches of rain fell this month, it rained almost every single day and the average daytime high was -7.2 degrees below average. This marks one year where the average high doesn't go above normal. Only broke 80 twice with the warmest being 81.4

July- Only broke twice so far with the highest being 83. At least the rain stopped, but the cold hasn't. The average daytime high is currently -7.6 degrees below average and the month as a whole is -4.7 degrees below average (THAT'S HUGE!). Apparently it wasn't the rain that was keeping things cool, it was something else.


To make a long story short, it's a cold year. It's going to continue to be cold. And the summer will come to very fast end once September hits, and winter may come even earlier this year than it did last year on October 27th. With a weak El Nino forming, negative PDO, AO, and NAO this winter will be the snowiest in the last ten years. Unlike last year there won't be a lot of ice, and statistics says that A BIG snowstorm will hit us in the mid to late season dumping 1-2 feet of the white. Snow this year will be 150% of the average, the snow will not stop this winter. We are too long overdue now and it's coming...