This year has given us a very mild winter here at Pure Water Hollow. We have had very warm temperatures over all and rain. We've had less than an inch of snow fall on two different occaisons, only one really being enough to sled ride on, and that only briefly before all the snow was gone. Our local school system has only missed 2 days of school this entire winter, which is unheard of! I think we average between 15-20 snow days during a normal winter(We missed Jan 3rd and Jan 13 this year.)
The National Weather Service had this bit of interesting historical data to report back at the end of January:
AT THE JACKSON NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST OFFICE THE DECEMBER 2011 TO JANUARY 2012 PERIOD RANKS AS THE SECOND WARMEST DECEMBER JANUARY PERIOD ON RECORD.
THE TOP 5 WARMEST DECEMBER TO JANUARY PERIODS ON RECORD FOR JACKSON IN DEGREES FAHRENHEIT.
2001-2002 41.9
2011-2012 41.7
2006-2007 41.2
1998-1999 41.0
1988-1989 40.9
IT IS INTERESTING TO NOTE THAT THE COLDEST DECEMBER JANUARY PERIOD ON RECORD AT JACKSON WAS JUST LAST YEAR...WHEN TEMPERATURES FROM DECEMBER 2010 THROUGH JANUARY 2011 AVERAGED 29.5 DEGREES...OVER 12 DEGREES COLDER THAN FOR THE SAME PERIOD THIS YEAR.
AN EVEN BIGGER STORY SO FAR THIS WINTER HAS BEEN THE LACK OF SIGNIFICANT COLD AIR OUTBREAKS. SO FAR THIS WINTER THE LOWEST MINIMUM TEMPERATURE RECORDED AT JACKSON HAS BEEN 17 DEGREES...WHILE THE LOWEST MINIMUM TEMPERATURE AT LONDON HAS BEEN 16 DEGREES.
THE WARMEST MINIMUM TEMPERATURE EVER RECORDED FOR AN ENTIRE WINTER SEASON AT JACKSON WAS 11 DEGREES IN THE WINTER OF 1997-98. FOR LONDON THE WARMEST MINIMUM TEMPERATURE EVER RECORDED FOR AN ENTIRE WINTER SEASON WAS 10 DEGREES IN THE WINTER OF 2001-2002.
THERE HAS ALSO BEEN A LACK OF SNOW SO FAR THIS WINTER...WITH ONLY 4.2 INCHES BEING RECORDED AT THE JACKSON NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE. HOWEVER...THERE HAVE BEEN 5 OTHER WINTERS WHERE EVEN LESS SNOW HAD FALLEN BY THE END OF JANUARY. THE NORMAL SNOWFALL FOR OCTOBER THROUGH JANUARY IS 12.6 INCHES. THE LEAST AMOUNT OF SNOW RECORDED FOR AN ENTIRE WINTER SEASON WAS 6.4 INCHES IN 1991-92.
THE LEAST SNOWIEST OCTOBER TO JANUARY PERIODS ON RECORD FOR JACKSON IN INCHES.
1990-1991 1.2
1991-1992 2.5
1988-1989 3.1
2006-2007 3.5
2007-2008 4.0
2005-2006 4.2
2011-2012 4.2
THE LATEST LONG RANGE OUTLOOK CALLS FOR A CONTINUATION OF ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY...BUT THERE IS ALSO SOME INDICATIONS THAT A MORE WINTRY PATTERN MAY SET UP ACROSS THE EASTERN UNITED STATES FOR AT LEAST A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME AFTER THE MIDDLE OF FEBRUARY.
IT ALSO BEARS TO KEEP IN MIND THAT IN SOME WINTERS THE COLDEST TEMPERATURES HAVE OCCURRED IN MARCH...WITH BELOW ZERO TEMPERATURES EVEN BEING OBSERVED. ALSO...EVEN IN OUR LEAST SNOWIEST WINTER...1.7 INCHES OF SNOW WAS RECORDED AT JACKSON IN APRIL.
Jackson actually has had much more snow this year than we did here, even though they are only about 60 miles away from us. During our 2nd snow they had over 2 inches when we only got about a half an inch. At any rate, you can see how little winter we have had around here in a historical context.
February has seen warm temperatures and no snow as well. Even today, the high is forcasted to be 56 degrees. But in the early morning hours of Sunday, they are predicting our area to get slammed with a good old fashioned snow storm! It is hard to believe, but we are perhaps in line to get 6 to 12 inches of snow!
I'll believe it when I see it!
In the mean-time I will enjoy the nice spring Saturday that God is giving us today!
