November was colder and drier than usual and what are the chances of a White Christmas in a wrap-up on the weather.
Overall, November ended colder then normal. Clinton area weather observer Jim Blaess says the overall temperature was just over 36-degrees which was about 3 degree below the average for the month. Blaess said it was the coldest November since 2000.
The highest reading was 71 on the 17th which Blaess said was the latest 70 degree reading in November since November 18th – 1999 when it was 73.
The coldest reading was on the 24th when it dropped to 7-degrees which Blaess said the coldest temperature in November since 1997 on November 17th when it was 6.
Precipitation was slight below normal with 1.85 inches of precipitation which was a third of an inch below normal. Blaess says the total did include 1.1 inch snow which is slightly below the average of 1.5 inches of snow.
For the year-to-date precipitation, Blaess said there has been about 30 and a half inches that is nearly two inches below the average for the first eleven months of the year.
In December you can expect nearly two inches of precipitation and that includes a little over eight inches snow. The month also includes three days with zero or below temperatures. The average high on December 1st is 39 and the average low is 24 and by the end of the month those averages have dropped to 30and 15.
December 2012 had a little under five inches of snow and no days with zero or below temperatures and was tied for the 13th warmest December in records to 1879.
Blaess said that in 1920 records started recording a white Christmas which was defined as having one inch of snow on the ground. Since that time, Blaess says, the Clinton area has recorded 43 white Christmases and 51 that were not.
