WASHINGTON (AP) – Record warmth in January helped boost the winter of 2005-2006 to the fifth-warmest on record.
For all the states except Alaska and Hawaii, the average winter temperature was 36.29 degrees Fahrenheit, 1.2 degrees above average. The three months, December through February, are considered meteorological winter.
The warmest winter on record was 1999-2000 at 36.95 degrees. Others warmer than this year were 1998-1999, 1991-1992 and 1997-1998.
During this winter, some 41 states had temperatures above average, with only seven near average and none cooler than the long-term mean, according to the National Climatic Data Centercenter, an arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
In Maine, January was the second-warmest on record in Portland, where the average temperature was 8.6 degrees above normal, said Art Lester, meteorologist from the National Weather Service. The temperature hit 57 on Jan. 27.
The winter average of 28 degrees in Portland is the sixth-warmest since records have been kept at the Portland International Jetport, Lester said.
The warm weather reduced energy demand by an estimated 11 percent from what would have been expected in an average year, according to the center.
Nationwide, rain and snowfall was near average, but extremely dry conditions prevailed throughout much of the Southwest and central and southern Plains.
This was the driest winter on record in Arizona and second driest on record for New Mexico and Oklahoma. Five other states – Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas and Nebraska – were much drier than average.
On the other hand, a series of powerful Pacific storms hit the Northwest and parts of the West during December and January and four western states – Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Nevada – were much wetter than average for the season.
A major snowstorm hit the East Coast on Feb. 11-12 with parts of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut receiving more than 20 inches of snow.
This winter also had Tropical Storm Zeta, which developed near the end of December becoming the 27th named storm during the record-setting 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. It weakened below tropical storm strength during the first week of January without making landfall.
—
On the Net:
National Climatic Data Center: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: http://www.noaa.gov
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.