Well, the revelers in Times Square tonight are going to be shivering in their boots. It's going to be cold tonight, as in the teens cold. Furthermore, most areas today are not going to reach the freezing point, and highs will likely be stuck in the 20s for the majority of, if not the entirety of, our area. The storm Saturday and Sunday looks to be complicated indeed, with a burst of heavy accumulating snow at the start (and I mean really heavy, there could be as much as half a foot of snow inland), followed by a transition to .1-.25" of ice, then 1-2" of rain, and the snow will be all gone by morning in most areas except for maybe a dusting in places). YUCK!!! Also, a new storm watch may be required for early next week (Tuesday) because a clipper system will move through...but the problem is that with temps as cold as they will be ( a fresh shot of cold moves in after the storm Sunday), it'll be extremely hard to get that one to be anything except all snow...and clippers often intensify off the coast if the water temperature is warm enough (which it is easily- the ocean is really warm right now)...
Anyway, instead of taking a look at history today, I think it's fitting to reminisce about the year it was in weather.
January will be a month that I always remember for the bitter cold. Last winter, it seemed like -1 was pretty mild...and at one point my house in Wallingford got to -9, which is about the coldest I've ever seen it. Additionally, Winter Storms Barbara and Chester brought several inches of snow to the area, which was extremely odd considering how there was so much cold air, the snow was truly entertaining to watch fall as fluff
February- This month will mostly be remembered for Winter Storms Derby & Easton, as well as the month that I started this blog in. Derby was a heavy dumper on the front end, with as much as a foot falling in Fairfield County. Easton was an overpreformer, since the storm was expected to change to rain but never did, remaining all snow and thus exceeded the predicted snowfall for the region, with pockets receiving as much as 15"
March was relatively snow-free, but the final day of the month featured a snowfall of 4" in a narrow band along I-91, with as much as 4" falling in a line from Meriden-Hamden-Wallingford-New Haven, making the commute an absolute nightmare.
April was a relatively mundane month except for a snowfall in the middle of the month which was 2" or so around the 15th, a wake-up call that should be remembered- snow has fallen historically in Connecticut as late as May 12, 1977
The summer months were very uninteresting in the weather world. There was only one big severe day, but it hit big by spawning an EF-1 tornado in Wolcott, which passed through the high school and caused significant damage to the sports field. Additionally, we had a very close call from Hurricane Arthur, which passed over the 40-70 benchmark, and then watched as Hurricane Gonzalo crushed Bermuda as a category 3, their worst storm since 2003's Hurricane Fabian.
November this year will be remembered for the cold weather, as well as the pre-Thanksgiving Winter Storm Ariana, which dropped as much as a foot of snow in Litchfield County, but vastly underpreformed in other parts of the state.
December was mild and snow-free, with just 0.7" of snow in the month, which is way below normal (obviously). The big story this month was the Christmas Eve rainstorm that ruined any hope of a White Christmas pretty much anywhere on the east coast.
And now, should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot and days of Auld Lang Syne!
I wish you the very best New Year's, and wish everyone to have a fantastic time revelling tonight. See you next year, AKA tomorrow morning :)
