The holiday heat makes our headlines warm december historyand despite the last month’s rainfall, it is dry month. We also check How La Niña has shaped our weather so far this winter.
Year-end temperature sets a record
Not a winter wonderland. Cool temperatures were scarce last month, creating one of our warmest Decembers on record. The National Center for Environmental Information (NCEI) reports a statewide preliminary average temperature of 49.7°Fit’s ours December 4 is the warmest since 1895.
Most sites across the state have documented one of these The warmest December year record. Greensboro, Wilmingtonand Hatteras Everyone has the 2nd warmest December dating back more than 100 years, just after soaked and wet December 2015.
Our average maximum temperature is very pleasant. In Charlotte, the average high of 64.7°F was nearly 10 degrees above normal, or above the December normal in Savannah, GA. Mountain locations in Marshall and Cullowhee ever recorded as the warmest December based on maximum temperature dating back more than a century.
The lows at night are also very warm, especially towards the end of the month. Raleigh and Greensboro each set a new record for the warm minimum temperature for three consecutive days – December 29, 30and thirty first – and in each case, the daily low warmer than our usual high temperature this time of year!
Between that warm period during the holidays, afternoon peaks in the 70s in December 25 made this a Christmas to remember: spring feelings in mid-December.
Eve also exceptionally warm. Daily highs of 74°F in Raleigh and 73°F in Charlotte used to be a new record high for December 31.
Even our high altitude locations experience warm weather conditions. Grandfather Mountain reached 60 degrees on three separate days in the last month. That has happened only four other times in December in the past two decades.
Dry start, then rain again
The dry weather at the beginning of the month was tempered by a few wet days in late December, but overall it was still a drier month than usual. The NCEI reports a statewide preliminary average rainfall of 2.14 inchesor ours December 15 is the driest day in the past 127 years.
In terms of our ongoing drought, December brings a mix of good news and bad news. First, the bad: the western part of the state, which has avoided drought all year, saw some of the driest weather in the state last month. Boone receiving just 0.71 inches of rain all month, making it the driest December there in 42 years. As a result, Moderate Drought (D1) appeared throughout the Northern and Central mountainous regions.
Much of Piedmont and the Coastal Plain ended the month with below-normal rainfall, which added to the shortfall we accumulated in the fall. For example, with just 0.93 inches of rain last month – a record for the 4th driest December – and 3.21 inches since October 1, Statesville ended the year 7.3 inches lower than normal three months ago, receiving less than a third of normal rainfall during that time.
The encouraging news is that more frequent rainfall returning at the end of the month has slowed our degradation in aridity. More than an inch of rain fell in some areas during events in December 19, 21and 29.
When flow remained mostly below normal at the end of the month, some measurements in the southern mountains and along the Neuse Basin have improved to near-normal levels. A statewide burning ban in place by the end of November is also fine be lifted for all counties in mid-December.
The US Drought Track Map continue to show Moderate Drought and Drought covering a total of 86.81% of the state, but this week’s map should show some improvement after our wet start through January.
We even saw snow this month after it was significantly absent in December, including at the state’s highest point. For the third time since 1980, Mount Mitchell There was no measurable snowfall in December. The last such instance was in 2015 – a December where we recorded record warmth across the state.
Weather pattern update
The warm and dry start to the climate winter is not surprising when La Nina model in place in the Pacific Ocean and its typical effects on our weather. However, in some respects, the extent and extent of warmth in December defied expectations.
Nearly the entire continental United States, with the exception of parts of the northern Rockies and Pacific Northwest, has above-normal temperature last month, so North Carolina is certainly not alone in our extreme warmth. It was the warmest December on record across the Southern Plains, Midwest and Deep South, with the average temperature is 10 to 15 degrees higher than normal.
During the La Niña winter, the jet stream often pushes north, placing the southernmost US floor in a warmer air mass. Last month, however, latitude seemed to know no bounds, as the jet stream crossed the Northern Plains and Northeast, sometimes reaching considerable intensity.
That line of supercharged jets is part of a powerful environmental pattern that created an outbreak of extreme weather across the Midwest, including Rare and damaging December tornadoes in Kentucky.
And more December 27wind speeds peaked at 200 mph more than 6 miles above the ground over Minnesota and Wisconsin, prompting some west-to-east flight impressive tails.
Now in early January, that pattern has finally broken, at least temporarily. The southern branch of the jet line has back to our south and a much cooler air mass moved on Monday, dropping our temperatures from the 70s to the 20s in just 24 hours.
When that jet stream trough shifted to the east, it appeared Cooler weather could last to mid-January. In addition, the forecasts show finally back La Niña’s signature pattern of warmer weather across the Southeast in late January.
However, the precipitation projections are mixed and some models show capable of wet model in late January, coinciding with a stream of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. That will reflect closer Final Winter’s trending patternwhich has been identified as not the same as La Nina.
And what about our snow chances? While it’s difficult to reduce winter events lasting more than a few days – let alone weeks – ahead of time, we are moving into the most popular climate time of year for snow. (A few years ago, we noted that large snowstorms occurs more often in January than any other month.)
With that in mind, if the cold air persists long enough and we trap moisture from the south, we can’t rule out a lot of flying debris before the end of January. If nothing else, we’ve got a better shot this month than in our unusually warm December.
