Monday, March 5, 2012

Second Warmest Winter in 80 Years at Chicago, Warmest at Fargo, Top 10 Elsewhere in Midwest

The National Weather Service reported this morning that the winter of 2011-12 was the second warmest in 80 years at Chicago and tied for the 9th warmest overall. It was also the warmest in records dating back to 1881 at Fargo. As shown in the chart from the Midwest Regional Climate Center, temperatures ranged as much as 9° above normal in the upper Midwest.
CHICAGO...

THE WINTER HAD AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 32.8 DEGREES...WHICH WAS
6.4 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. THIS TIES THE WINTER FOR THE 9TH WARMEST
IN THE PAST 140 YEARS (SINCE 1872)...AND WAS THE SECOND WARMEST
WINTER IN THE PAST 80 YEARS. THIS WAS THE WARMEST WINTER SINCE
1997-1998.

RANK WINTER AVERAGE WINTER TEMP
---------------------------------------
1. 1877-1878 37.2
2. 1931-1932 35.7
3. 1879-1880 35.2
1881-1882 35.2
5. 1889-1890 34.7
6. 1875-1876 33.6
7. 1997-1998 33.2
8. 1918-1919 33.1
9. 2011-2012 32.8
1920-1921 32.8



ROCKFORD...

THE WINTER HAD AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 30.2 DEGREES...WHICH WAS
6.0 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. THIS RANKS THE WINTER AS THE 3RD WARMEST
ON RECORD IN THE PAST 106 YEARS (SINCE 1906). THIS WAS THE WARMEST
WINTER SINCE 2001-2002.

RANK WINTER AVERAGE WINTER TEMP
---------------------------------------
1. 1931-1932 32.0
2. 2001-2002 30.9
3. 2011-2012 30.2
4. 1997-1998 30.1
1920-1921 30.1
6. 1930-1931 29.9
7. 1982-1983 29.2
8. 1991-1992 29.0
9. 1908-1909 28.7
10. 1943-1944 28.5

CITY RANK
------------------------------
CHICAGO IL 9TH WARMEST
CLEVELAND OH 7TH WARMEST
FARGO ND WARMEST
GRAND RAPIDS MI 2ND WARMEST
GREEN BAY WI 2ND WARMEST
KANSAS CITY MO 7TH WARMEST
MILWAUKEE WI 4TH WARMEST
MINNEAPOLIS MN 4TH WARMEST
ROCKFORD IL 3RD WARMEST
ST LOUIS MO 6TH WARMEST

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