FOR RELEASE: Dec. 22, 1997
Contact: Blaine P. Friedlander, Jr.
Office: (607) 255-3290
Internet: [email protected]
Compuserve: Bill Steele, 72650,565
http://www.news.cornell.edu
ITHACA, N.Y. -- November capped a cool autumn in the Northeast, making it
the fifth month in a row of average temperatures below the 30-year normal,
according to Keith Eggleston, a senior climatologist at the Northeast
Regional Climate Center at Cornell University. The region's area-weighted
monthly average temperature was 2.9 degrees cooler than normal, making it
the 21st coolest November in the last 103 years.
Each of the three autumn months (September, October and November) averaged
cooler than normal temperatures in the Northeast. Departures from normal
temperatures were generally the largest in the southwestern part of the
region, as West Virginia averaged 3.7 degrees cooler than normal. Maine
had the smallest departure at 2 degrees below normal. The autumn season
was 1.5 degrees cooler than normal -- the Northeast's 15th coolest autumn
on record.
Most of the Northeast received ample amounts of precipitation during
November. The average precipitation accumulation across the Northeast
during the month was 128 percent of normal, making it the 14th wettest
November on record. Delaware was the wettest state with respect to normal,
as its area-weighted average for the month of 6.05 inches was 186 percent
of normal. It was Delaware's 4th wettest November in 103 years. Maine was
the only state that was drier than normal, with 89 percent of the long-term
average of precipitation.
Autumn precipitation as a whole was near-normal for most of the Northeast.
The area-weighted average for the region was 91 percent of normal. Maine,
however, received only 72 percent of its normal precipitation for the three
autumn months, making it Maine's 14th driest autumn on record.
New Weather Records
24-our Precipitation Records for November (inches)
City Date New Previous
Pittsburgh 7th 1.86 1.85 on 11/15/1871Daily Precipitation Records (inches)
City Date New Previous
Baltimore 7th 2.44 2.27 in 1951
National Airport, Va. 7th 2.00 1.04 in 1932
Pittsburgh 7th 1.86 0.70 in 1977Daily Snowfall Records (inches)
City Date New Previous
Buffalo, N.Y. 14th 9.5 6.9 in 1972
Rochester, N.Y. 14th 10.6 7.3 in 1972
Syracuse, N.Y. 14th 8.6 5.9 in 1972
Williamsport, Pa. 16th 0.4 Trace in 1995
Caribou, Maine 24th 4.2 3.6 in 1978Minimum Temperature Records
City Date New Previous
Beckley, W.Va. 18th 13° 18° in 1965
Elkins, W.Va. 18th 7° 10° in 1959
Montpelier, Vt. (tie) 25th 4° 4° in 1993
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