FOX44 - Burlington / Plattsburgh News, Weather & Sports12.11.10 Warm Season Continues

12.11.10 Warm Season Continues

Temperatures in Burlington during the last few afternoons have felt "cool."  However it has been pretty seasonable when looking at the numbers.  Temperatures continue to slide, annually, as the sun angle continues to get lower in December.  However since it's been such a warm Autumn, the quote unquote average days have felt a little cool to me.

On the heels of the second-warmest November on record at the Burlington International Airport, December has taken the baton and is running warm as well:

Temperatures at night have been the most noticeable feature.  For the first ten days of December, the average low is about 23 degrees.  What we have actually seen in Burlington is a first 10-day low temperature of about 31 degrees.  A difference of +7.5 F!  During the day, temperatures have averaged about +3 F than what we expect to get this time of year.

Looking at the data separated:

All of the lows in the first ten days have either been at or above the 'average' for that day.  This graph shows how much warmer the lows have been, with the blue line being very far above the maroon line.  There were even a couple of days where the low temp ended up being 10-15 degrees WARMER than the average!

The high temperatures haven't been as pronounced.  Seven of the first ten days in December have been at or above average, with just three days below.  The biggest difference came on the fifth, with an observed high temperature of 52 degrees compared to the average of 37.

Across most of the United States, it has been a warm 30-day period:

Courtesy:  Climate Prediction Center

The bottom image shows the departure from average.  The colors of yellow to red show where it has been warm.  The blues show where it has been cooler.

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