CXUS53 KIWX 011045 CLSSBN CLIMATE REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA 545 AM EST FRI MAR 01 2024 ................................... ...THE SOUTH BEND CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE SEASON, FROM 12/1/2023 TO 2/29/2024... CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1991 TO 2020 CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 1893 TO 2024 WEATHER OBSERVED NORMAL DEPART LAST YEAR'S VALUE DATE(S) VALUE FROM VALUE NORMAL .............................................................. TEMPERATURE (F) RECORD HIGH 74 02/25/2000 LOW -22 01/20/1943 01/25/1897 HIGHEST 73 02/27 MM MM 60 LOWEST -9 01/14 MM MM -8 01/15 AVG. MAXIMUM 41.6 34.1 7.5 39.5 AVG. MINIMUM 27.7 19.7 8.0 26.2 MEAN 34.7 26.9 7.8 DAYS MAX >= 90 0 0.0 0.0 0 DAYS MAX <= 32 13 38.7 -25.7 19 DAYS MIN <= 32 58 77.5 -19.5 63 DAYS MIN <= 0 6 5.6 0.4 2 PRECIPITATION (INCHES) RECORD MAXIMUM 13.35 1950 MINIMUM 2.77 1945 TOTALS 8.08 7.37 0.71 8.01 DAILY AVG. 0.09 MM MM 0.09 DAYS >= .01 45 44.1 0.9 36 DAYS >= .10 25 18.8 6.2 16 DAYS >= .50 3 3.5 -0.5 4 DAYS >= 1.00 1 1.0 0.0 3 GREATEST 24 HR. TOTAL 1.03 SNOWFALL (INCHES) RECORDS TOTAL 136.3 1978 24 HR TOTAL 11.8 12/25/2020 TO 12/25/2020 TOTALS 26.4 51.4 -25.0 17.7 SINCE 7/1 29.9 56.7 -26.8 47.9 SNOWDEPTH AVG. 1 1 DAYS >= TRACE 29 31.8 -2.8 32 DAYS >= 1.0 7 16.3 -9.3 6 GREATEST SNOW DEPTH 10 01/20 5 24 HR TOTAL 6.1 01/13 TO 01/13 DEGREE DAYS HEATING TOTAL 2742 3425 -683 2875 SINCE 7/1 3839 4802 -963 4006 COOLING TOTAL 0 0 0 0 SINCE 1/1 0 0 0 0 .............................................................. WIND (MPH) AVERAGE WIND SPEED 9.0 HIGHEST WIND SPEED/DIRECTION 35/310 DATE 02/28 HIGHEST GUST SPEED/DIRECTION 46/300 DATE 12/18 SKY COVER POSSIBLE SUNSHINE (PERCENT) MM AVERAGE SKY COVER 0.61 NUMBER OF DAYS FAIR 28 NUMBER OF DAYS PC 19 NUMBER OF DAYS CLOUDY 44 AVERAGE RH (PERCENT) 76 WEATHER CONDITIONS. NUMBER OF DAYS WITH THUNDERSTORM 1 MIXED PRECIP 0 HEAVY RAIN 0 RAIN 12 LIGHT RAIN 33 FREEZING RAIN 0 LT FREEZING RAIN 3 HAIL 0 HEAVY SNOW 2 SNOW 9 LIGHT SNOW 29 SLEET 0 FOG 64 FOG W/VIS <= 1/4 MILE 17 HAZE 31 - INDICATES NEGATIVE NUMBERS. R INDICATES RECORD WAS SET OR TIED. MM INDICATES DATA IS MISSING. T INDICATES TRACE AMOUNT. && ...SECOND WARMEST WINTER ON RECORD... THIS WINTER'S "VERY STRONG" EL NINO DELIVERED AS ANTICIPATED; WARMER THAN NORMAL. THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THE WINTER, 34.7 DEGREES, IS 7.5 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL AND IS THE WARMEST SINCE 1931-1932. THIS IS THE SECOND WARMEST WINTER ON RECORD. FEBRUARY AND DECEMBER HAD THE GREATEST DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL, WHILE JANUARY WAS "ONLY" 2.6 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. THE WARMEST TEMPERATURE THIS WINTER WAS 73 DEGREES ON FEBRUARY 27TH. THIS IS THE WARMEST WINTER TEMPERATURE SINCE 74 DEGREES ON FEBRUARY 25, 2000 (WHICH IS ALSO THE ALL-TIME FEBRUARY HIGH TEMPERATURE). DECEMBER PRECIPITATION WAS NEAR NORMAL. JANUARY'S WAS ALMOST 2 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL, AND FEBRUARY ENDED 1.51 INCHES BELOW NORMAL. ALL TOLD, THE WINTER'S PRECIPITATION TOTAL OF 8.08 INCHES IS 0.71 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL AND RANKS AS THE 36TH WETTEST ON RECORD. OF COURSE, GIVEN THE MILD TEMPERATURES, SNOW WAS HARD TO COME BY. SNOW TOTALED 26.4 INCHES THIS WINTER AND IS 25.0 INCHES BELOW NORMAL. THIS IS THE 28TH LEAST AMOUNT OF SNOW ON RECORD. HOWEVER, THIS IS 8.7 INCHES MORE SNOW THAN WHAT FELL LAST WINTER. LASTLY, ICE COVERAGE OVER THE GREAT LAKES WAS HISTORICALLY LOW. ON JANUARY 22, ICE COVERAGE WAS 16% ON THE GREAT LAKES. THIS IS THE CURRENT SEASONAL MAXIMUM AND TIES 2012 FOR THE SECOND-EARLIEST PEAK ON RECORD, ACCORDING TO A CLIMATE.GOV ARTICLE PUBLISHED ON FEBRUARY 16TH. THE ARTICLE ALSO NOTES, "DAILY RECORD-LOW ICE COVER HAS PERSISTED ACROSS THE GREAT LAKES SINCE FEBRUARY 8, 2024." THE TYPICAL MAXIMUM ICE COVERAGE FOR THE GREAT LAKES IS ABOUT 54%, OCCURRING IN MID-FEBRUARY. A MONTH-BY-MONTH SUMMARY IS BELOW. BROWN ...2ND WARMEST DECEMBER, 7TH LEAST SNOWIEST ON RECORD... TEMPERATURES THROUGHOUT DECEMBER 2023 WERE WELL ABOVE AVERAGE. THE MOST NOTABLE TEMPERATURE DEPARTURES OCCURRED AROUND CHRISTMAS; THERE WAS A 3 DAY STRETCH OF HIGHS IN THE 50S WITH THE DAILY AVERAGE TEMPERATURE EACH DAY EXCEEDING 15-20 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. OVERALL, 30 OF 31 DAYS THIS MONTH WERE ABOVE AVERAGE! THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH WAS 39.3 DEGREES, WHICH IS AN ASTOUNDING 9.7 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL! DECEMBER 2023 WAS THE 2ND WARMEST DECEMBER ON RECORD AND THE WARMEST SINCE 2015. RECORDS BEGAN IN 1893. PRECIPITATION WAS NEAR NORMAL IN SOUTH BEND THROUGHOUT DECEMBER. THE HIGHEST DAILY RAINFALL TOTAL WAS 0.72" ON DECEMBER 1ST. PRECIPITATION TOTALED 2.77" FOR THE MONTH, WHICH IS SLIGHTLY ABOVE THE AVERAGE OF 2.40". DECEMBER 2023 WAS THE 52ND WETTEST DECEMBER ON RECORD FOR SOUTH BEND. MUCH OF THE MONTH'S PRECIPITATION FELL AS RAIN. ONLY TWO DAYS IN DECEMBER RECORDED MEASURABLE SNOW; 1.0" OF SNOW FELL ON DECEMBER 18TH AND 0.4" ON DECEMBER 31ST. THE TOTAL OF 1.4" OF SNOW FOR THE MONTH WAS 12.3" BELOW NORMAL. DECEMBER 2023 TIES FOR THE 7TH LEAST SNOWIEST ON RECORD. TWO DAILY TEMPERATURE RECORDS WERE BROKEN THIS MONTH. THE DAILY HIGH TEMPERATURE ON DECEMBER 9TH OF 59 DEGREES BROKE THE PREVIOUS RECORD OF 58 DEGREES SET BACK IN 1946. ADDITIONALLY, A RECORD WARM MINIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 46 DEGREES WAS SET ON CHRISTMAS DAY. THIS BREAKS THE DAILY RECORD OF 40 DEGREES, WHICH WAS SET IN 1982. JOHNSON ...WETTEST JANUARY IN 11 YEARS... THIS MONTH HAD IT ALL: A RECORD COLD HIGH TEMPERATURE, RECORD DAILY PRECIPITATION AND SNOWFALL, AND A SIGNIFICANT LAKE EFFECT SNOW EVENT. THE FIRST 12 DAYS OF JANUARY WERE MILD, WITH AN AVERAGE DAILY TEMPERATURE AS GREAT AS 11 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL (JANUARY 9TH). BY THE END OF THAT PERIOD, THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH (32.3 DEGREES) WAS 7.3 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL WHICH RANKS AS THE 25TH WARMEST ON RECORD. AS THE POLAR VORTEX WEAKENED, COLD AIR BLASTED INTO THE REGION. FROM THE 13TH THROUGH 21ST, THE AVERAGE DAILY TEMPERATURE WAS AS MUCH AS 26 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL (JANUARY 15TH). HIGH TEMPERATURES WERE IN THE SINGLE DIGITS AT TIMES AND OVERNIGHT LOWS WERE BELOW ZERO. THE COLDEST TEMPERATURE OF THE MONTH, -9 ON THE 14TH AND 15TH, WAS THE COLDEST TEMPERATURE RECORDED AT SOUTH BEND SINCE -20 DEGREES ON JANUARY 31, 2019 (NOTE: A LOW OF -8 WAS RECORDED ON DECEMBER 23, 2022). THIS CHILL WAS SHORT LIVED AS ABOVE- NORMAL TEMPERATURES RETURNED TO END THE MONTH. THE MONTH ENDED WITH AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 26.7 DEGREES WHICH IS 2.6 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. THIS RANKS AS THE 49TH WARMEST ON RECORD. ONE TEMPERATURE RECORD WAS SET THIS MONTH. THE HIGH OF 6 DEGREES ON THE 14TH BROKE THE PREVIOUS COLDEST HIGH TEMPERATURE RECORD OF 7 DEGREES SET IN 1929. AS THE ARCTIC AIR ARRIVED AND SUBSEQUENTLY DEPARTED, A COUPLE EPISODES OF SNOW OCCURRED TOTALING 22.2 INCHES FOR THE MONTH. THIS IS 0.6 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL AND RANKS AS THE 37TH MOST ON RECORD. THIS IS NOTABLY MORE THAN THE PALTRY 7.5 INCHES THAT WERE RECORD IN JANUARY 2023. SNOW ON THE 9TH WAS NOTABLE BECAUSE A PRECIPITATION RECORD OF 1.03" OCCURRED THAT DAY PAIRED WITH 2.3 INCHES OF HEAVY WET SNOW. THIS WAS A RESULT OF RAIN CHANGING TO SNOW. STANDING WATER WAS TRAPPED BENEATH THIS "CONCRETE SNOW" MAKING FOR SOUPY, SLOPPY CONDITIONS THROUGHOUT THE REGION. LATER IN THE MONTH, A DOMINANT LAKE EFFECT SNOW BAND DEVELOPED AND DROPPED NEARLY 3' (UNOFFICIAL MEASUREMENT) OF SNOW IN THE LAPORTE AND MICHIGAN CITY AREA. THE CO-OP SITE AT LAPORTE HAD A TWO-DAY TOTAL OF 32.4 INCHES ENDING EARLY IN THE MORNING ON THE 20TH. AS PART OF THIS LAKE EFFECT SNOW, SOUTH BEND RECORDED A NEW DAILY SNOWFALL RECORD OF 5.9 INCHES ON THE 19TH. THIS BROKE THE PREVIOUS RECORD OF 5.7 INCHES SET IN 2012. LASTLY, PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH TOTALED AN IMPRESSIVE 4.53 INCHES. THIS IS 1.87 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL AND TIES 1916 AS THE 10TH WETTEST ON RECORD. THIS WAS THE WETTEST JANUARY SINCE 4.82 INCHES IN JANUARY 2020. FOR PERSPECTIVE, THIS MONTHLY TOTAL IS COMPARABLE TO THE NORMAL PRECIPITATION AMOUNT FOR MAY: 4.20 INCHES. BROWN ...WARMEST FEBRUARY ON RECORD... AFTER AN ASTONISHINGLY WARM MONTH, SOUTH BEND HAS OFFICIALLY CLINCHED THE WARMEST FEBRUARY ON RECORD! ONLY TWO DAYS THIS MONTH WERE BELOW NORMAL; IN COMPARISON, 15 DAYS THIS MONTH WERE 10+ DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL! THE LAST WEEK OF FEBRUARY FEATURED A THREE DAY STRETCH OF HIGHS 60 DEGREES OR MORE. ON AVERAGE, FEBRUARY HAS ONE DAY IN THE 60S; THIS YEAR, THERE WERE FIVE DAYS IN THE 60S AND ONE DAY IN THE 70S. IN FACT, THE 73 DEGREE HIGH TEMPERATURE ON FEBRUARY 27TH WAS ONLY THE 3RD OCCURRENCE OF 70S IN FEBRUARY IN 130 YEARS! THE MOST RECENT 70+ DEGREE DAY IN FEBRUARY BEFORE THEN WAS FEBRUARY 25, 2000. SEVERAL TEMPERATURE RECORDS WERE TIED OR BROKEN THIS MONTH. THERE WERE FOUR HIGH TEMPERATURE RECORDS BROKEN ON FEBRUARY 9TH, 26TH, 27TH, AND 28TH. THERE WERE ALSO TWO DAILY RECORD WARM LOW TEMPERATURES BROKEN ON FEBRUARY 9TH AND 27TH. THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR FEBRUARY WAS 38.0 DEGREES, WHICH IS 10.9 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. PRECIPITATION WAS TOUGH TO COME BY THIS MONTH. THERE WERE NO DAILY RAINFALL TOTALS OVER HALF AN INCH. THERE WERE ONLY TWO DAYS WHERE RAINFALL TOTALED OVER A QUARTER INCH OR MORE: FEBRUARY 22ND AND 23RD. PRECIPITATION TOTALED 0.78" FOR THE MONTH. THIS IS 1.53" BELOW NORMAL AND WAS THE 12TH DRIEST FEBRUARY ON RECORD. THIS WAS THE DRIEST FEBRUARY SINCE 2004 FOR SOUTH BEND (0.76"). DESPITE THE LACK OF ICE COVER ON LAKE MICHIGAN, DUE TO THE ANOMALOUSLY WARM TEMPERATURES, SNOWFALL WAS NOTABLY LACKING THIS MONTH. SNOWFALL TOTALED ONLY 2.8" FOR THE ENTIRE MONTH. THIS IS 13.3" BELOW NORMAL AND RANKS AS THE 13TH LEAST SNOWIEST FEBRUARY ON RECORD. JOHNSON $$