Colder than average (again)
By Russell Russ
Not easy to find a colder than average month these days, but November 2013 was just a bit colder than the average November. Many smaller ponds, including Tamarack, McMullen and Pond Hill, iced over on November 24. They opened up on November 27, but iced over again on November 28. Tobey Pond and Wangum Lake were about 50% iced over as of the end of the month. It sure felt like a cool, cloudy and wet month, just like November is famous for. If November is the telling month for the coming winter then we may be in for a cold and wet one.
The month’s high temperature of 63 degrees was observed on November 1 and the low temperature of 9 degrees was observed on November 30. Interesting to note that the high was on the first day of the month and the low was on the last day. The average mean temperature was 35.3 degrees, 1.8 degrees below normal. There were no daily temperature records set this month, but it was the coldest November since 1997, just beating 2012 by 0.1 degree. You have to go back to 1997 to find a colder November than we just had. We have had two colder than normal Novembers in a row now. Does this mean our warming period is over? Only time will tell.
The total precipitation for the month was 4.69 inches, 0.47 inches above normal. Over half of the monthly rain came during one storm on November 26-27. Through November this year, the total precipitation amount was 50.84 inches. For the first eleven months of the year we were 2.49 inches above normal for this time period. With still one month to go until year’s end it is looking like a fairly normal year as far as precipitation goes.
The month’s snowfall total was just 1.7 inches, 4.9 inches below normal. Through November, the yearly snowfall amount for 2013 was 55.5 inches, 18.5 inches below normal for this time period. Even if December comes in with an average amount of snowfall it is looking like 2013 will be nearly 20 inches below normal for the year. Our yearly average snowfall amount is 91.3 inches.
