Record Warm December!!!

[jinftl]

...Record Warm December for Miami....


000
FXUS62 KMFL 011544
AFDMFL

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI FL
1044 AM EST MON JAN 1 2007

..A NEW YEAR BEGINS BUT 2006 CLOSES OUT WITH WARMEST MIA DECEMBER...

DISCUSSION...
PRELIMINARY NUMBERS FOR DECEMBER 2006 INDICATE THAT THE MONTH WILL
MOST LIKELY BE THE WARMEST DECEMBER AT MIA AND POSSIBLY TYING THE
RECORD FOR THE WARMEST DECEMBER AT FLL. AFTER MORNING NUMBERS
CALCULATED...A PNS WILL BE ISSUED.

[tropicana]

THIS LIST IS JUST PARTIAL:-

Warmest December on record at:

Vero Beach FL 71.5F
Boston MA 41.1F
Providence RI 40.7F
Rochester NY 39.0F
Allentown PA 39.0F

Second warmest Dec at:-

Ft Lauderdale FL 75.1F (2nd)
Miami FL 74.4F (2nd)
West Palm Beach FL 73.1F (2nd)
Tampa FL 69.5F (2nd)
Sarasota FL 69.5F (2nd)
Punta Gorda FL 69.6F (2nd)
Windsor Locks CT 38.0F (2nd)
Worcester MA 36.3F (2nd)
Flint MI 35.4F (2nd tied 1965)
Alpena MI 32.1F (2nd)
Houghton Lake MI 31.3F (2nd)

Third Warmest Dec at:-

Ft Myers FL 70.9F (3rd)
Trenton NJ 41.8F (3rd)
Saginaw MI 34.4F (3rd)
Traverse City MI 33.6F (3rd)

Fourth warmest Dec at:-

Reading PA 40.2F (4th)
Buffalo NY 37.2F (4th)
Gaylord MI 29.9F (4th)
Saulte Ste Marie MI 28.0F (4th)

Fifth warmest Dec at:-

Atlantic City NJ 43.1F (5th)
Detroit MI 37.4F (5th)

Sixth warmest Dec at:-

Philadelphia PA 42.7F (6th)

[southerngale]

And we had record cold temperatures quite a few days over here. Although we had a few above normal days, overall, I believe it was a colder than normal December. We had quite a few more freezes in December than we had all of last winter!

[Extremeweatherguy]

Houston was 2-degrees above normal this December and Galveston was 0.3-degrees below normal.

The only reason Houston was above normal though is the warm up we recieved mid-month. If that had not happened, then we would have been below normal in Houston too.

[jinftl]

It's definitely been on the warm side here in South Florida...even for South Florida standards.

We got a quick cool down before Thanksgiving, but it's been warm since, especially at night.....been in the 70's for lows most of the week....last night dropped to 75 degrees, the night before was 76. Very unusual... the monthl's average minimum temp was a record of 71....9.3 degrees above normal! Forecast lows in the 70's through this upcoming weekend.

December 2006 stats for Fort Lauderdale:
Dec 2006 Average Departure from Norm
AVG. MAXIMUM 79.2 77.1 +2.1
AVG. MINIMUM 71.0R 61.7 + 9.3
MEAN 75.1 69.4 +5.7

[coriolis]

December average was 37.8, 6.35 degrees above normal at Williamsport PA
January was 9.71 degrees above normal.
The entire year was 2.66 degrees above normal.

[Aquawind]

December among the warmest on record
By Jacob Ogles
jogles@news-press.com
Originally posted on January 03, 2007

December in South Florida was among the warmest on record, according to National Weather Service statistics. But meteorologists said residents shouldn't brace for a lengthy warm winter.

According to temperatures recorded at weather stations in the area, the average temperature in Fort Myers this December was 70.9 degrees, making it the third-warmest December on record. Punta Gorda's average temperature was 69.6 degrees, the second warmest on record for that area.

Sarasota, Tampa and areas on the state's east coast also saw the second warmest November in the books.

National Weather Service meteorologist Barry Goldsmith said sunshine came courtesy of a subtropical ridge of high pressure. That ridge, he said, allowed surface water temperatures in tropical regions to warm the entire area.

"Since the ridge is centered in the deep tropics and was nosing into Florida for days at a time, temperatures stayed 10 to 15 degrees above normal."

Even when cloudy weather and scattered rains came into Southwest Florida around Christmas time, Goldsmith said, the area was still unseasonably warm.

The ridge was partly a result of an El Nino phenomenon, which affects climates around the world every several years.

Even when cold ridges gave snowy weather to large swaths of the country such as Denver, the subtropical ridge near Florida kept away the cold.

"The ridge basically said, 'I'm the dominating force here, and you can't push me away,'" Goldsmith said.

A few times, temperatures dipped below normal. On Dec. 8, the high was 66 degrees, and on Dec. 27 it was 64 degrees.

Whether warm weather keeps hold in the new year is uncertain, Goldsmith said.

Cool winds from Canada and other regions could break up the ridge. It could make February and March seem the coldest part of winter instead of December and January, Goldsmith said.

Balmy Alrighty...