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Welcome to December & Winter 2018/19

Posted on by Slim

As we flip the calendar to December and the start of the winter season it is now time to look back at some top ten’s for December and some past extreme winters
First for December. The ten coldest Decembers here at Grand Rapids with the mean temp and year. The normal average for December is 29.2°
1. 17.1° 1989
2. 19.0° 2000
3. 19.0° 1976
4. 19.2° 1983
5. 20.5° 1958
6. 21.1° 1917
7. 21.3° 1963
8. 21.4° 1919
9. 22.3° 1985
10. 22.6° 1946
The warmest Decembers
1. 39.1 2015
2. 36.6 1923
3. 36.2 1983
4. 35.8 1931
5. 35.1 2012
6. 35.1 2006
7. 35.1 1913
8. 35.0 2011
9. 34.4 1918
10. 34.3 1941
The record coldest low was -18° on December 19th 1983 The warmest high was 69° on December 5th 2001.
Snow the top ten snowiest Decembers 21.9” is average
1. 59.2” 2000
2. 54.6” 2008
3. 53.9” 2001
4. 51.3” 1951
5. 37.0” 2016
6. 35.5” 2009
7. 34.8” 1983
8. 34.7” 2013
9. 33.7” 1970
10. 32.9” 2017
Least snow fall
1. 1.0” 2014
2. 2.3” 1913
3. 2.3” 1912
4. 2.5” 2015
5. 2.6” 1979
6. 3.7” 1971
7. 3.8” 1906
8. 4.2” 1943
9. 4.5” 2011
10. 5.1” 1902

Now for the winter season. In the average winter season (December-February) Grand Rapids has a mean average temperature of 25.0° The warmest was in 1931 with a mean temperature of 33.9° (December 35.8° January 34.2° and February 31.8°) the coldest winter season is 18.2° in 1903 (December 22.7° January 17.3° and February 14.6°) The average snow fall for December-February is 52.1” the most 105.6” in 2013/14 and the leas was 13.4” in 1905/06 for the whole season the most snow fall is 132.0” in 1951/52 and the least for a whole season is a reported 20.0” in the winter of 1905/06. Last winter the mean for DJF was 26.4° and the snow fall for the 3 winter months was 66.2° but of that total 32.9″ fell in December and 12.6″ fell in January and 20.7″ fell in February.

Not going it say it will happen this year, but do not be too surprised if it does. But in several past winters when it was cold and snowy in late November into early December it became warm around Christmas time. That said do not be too surprised if we end up with a warm green Christmas and New Year. And the latest updated CPC’s long range guess kind of hints at what might be a milder December.

http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/predictions/30day/

Slim

Category: Michigan Weather Forecast, Slim

10 thoughts on “Welcome to December & Winter 2018/19”

  1. Had some very heavy rain and a couple flashes, some street flooding during the heaviest of the rain. Along with a cold east wind and a temperature of 35° it makes one raw night.
    Slim

  3. Get ready for some decent clipper snow by the middle/end of the week! Winter is about ready to get reeved up!

  4. I love how 7 of the last top 10 snowiest December’s have happened since 2000, Keep em coming!

    1. As well as several of our least snowiest also! Gotta love that 2014 with 1 whole inch of snow! Records are made to be broken, let’s see that one fall!

  6. Rain, wind and temps in the mid 30’s? Give me temps in the 20’s with moderate to heavy SNOW any day over a cold rain! Bring on some SNOWSTORMS baby!

  7. Welcome to meteorological winter. Here is the unofficial summary for the month of November 2018. It was a cold and snowy month all across western and central Michigan. At Grand Rapids the mean of 34.6° was the 10th coldest November on record. The maximum for the month was a new record coldest at 52° the low for the month was 20° there was 14.4” of snow fall that is good for 17th place. At Muskegon the mean for the month was 35.5° that is good for the 7th coldest on record. The highest reading was just 51° and that is good for a new record coldest maximum. Muskegon reported 12.5” of snow fall. At Kalamazoo the mean of 34.6° is good for the 5th coldest on record there. The warmest it got in Kzoo was just 54° and that is good for the 2nd coldest on record there. And at Lansing the mean was 33.6° that is good for the 9th coldest on record there. The warmest reading all month was 53° and that is good for the 2nd coldest maximum in recorded history. They had 11.9” of snow fall that is good for 13th place. Should be noted that records have been kept at Lansing since 1863.
    Slim

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