FOX44 - Burlington / Plattsburgh News, Weather & Sports01.01.2012 Wettest Year #'s Are In

01.01.2012 Wettest Year #'s Are In

We          just            had           to           do            it. 

After

                     the most snow in February in Burlington

                                                                             the 3rd-biggesst March snow storm on record

the wettest April                                                                                                 the wettest May

                                     severe thunderstorms with flash flooding in late May                    Tropical Storm Irene

2011 was the wettest year for multiple local towns.  Unfortunately I don't have the data at my fingertips for more cities, but I DO have it for Burlington, Montpelier, and St. Johnsbury.  The following images will compare this year's record-breaking precipitation to the previous record on the left.

Take a look at the next graph below.  I love using this.  It's courtesy the National Weather Service in Burlington, Vermont.  The image shows the yearly rain and compares it to average.  Areas of green show a surplus of precipitation; areas of brown show a deficit of precipitation.

Notice on the top image the small vertical lines.  Those little 'steps' are big weather events.  So look closely above MAR and that was the March 6-7, 2011 snow storm of 24+ inches.  Then late April and late May there are two other major rain storms.  Irene can be seen just above SEP.  The bottom image shows all of those big storms. 

And wow what a warm year it was!!

Burlington, Vermont:

The red areas in the middle image show warmer than average temperatures.  We didn't just nudge above the middle line, we surpassed it by a long shot.  There were far fewer below-average days than above-average.