Memorable Winter Weather from Last Year — Remember These Events?

Snow covers Piedmont Park in metro Atlanta (February 2010)

No doubt about, 2010 has been a wacky year in weather. From the snowstorms that battered typically mild-mannered areas, to the super hot summer that followed, Mother Nature has certainly kept us all on our toes this year.

Here are a few highlights from the winter of 2009-10:

• The 2009-10 winter season was one for the record books. It began even before the “official” start of winter, with a storm bringing blizzard-like conditions on December 19-20, 2009. FEMA made four Major Disaster Declarations for states in the Mid-Atlantic due to severe winter storm conditions caused by this pre-Christmas snow.

• 63% of the country experienced below-normal temperatures.

• Places that experienced near- or above-normal temperatures were along the West Coast, as well as around the Great Lakes and in the Northeast.

• January freeze: record-breaking cold temperatures for many areas, especially the southern section, including Savannah, Georgia; Key West, Florida; and Charlotte, North Carolina.

• The season-long wet spell was notable for the Southeast, as Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina each had their eighth wettest winter.

• Precipitation was also much above normal for South Dakota, Virginia, New Jersey, and Maryland.

• On the state level, New Mexico experienced its seventh wettest February on record.

• Conversely, Idaho had its seventh driest, and Wyoming its eighth driest.

• Although much of New England seemed to have escaped winter’s wrath, this did not include Burlington, Vermont, which managed to break its single storm snowfall record on January 2-3 with nearly 33-inches over a 35-hour period.

• From January 17 through 23, across Southern California, rainfall records were being broken at several different locations, leading to widespread flooding and mudslides.

• On January 22, the barometric pressure at the Los Angeles International Airport fell to an all-time record low of 29.07.”

• On January 28-29, a major ice and snowstorm left extensive damage in its wake across Oklahoma.

• Ferocious February: The national average temperature for this month was 32.4° Fahrenheit; 2.2° below the long-term average.

• The South experienced its seventh coldest February on record.

• February snowfall totals were not merely broken, but smashed in cities such as Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Wilmington, Philadelphia, Allentown, and Atlantic City. At New York’s Central Park, 36.9-inches fell (their average for an entire winter is just over 22 inches).

• On February 5-6, one storm alone (Snowmageddon), two-foot snow totals were common in and around our Nation’s Capital and caused an unprecedented four-day shutdown of the Federal Government, idling nearly 230,000 federal workers and estimated to have cost some $100 million per day in lost productivity.

• February 11-12 saw a remarkable southern snowstorm that buried cities in Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia. Dallas-Fort Worth recorded 12.5-inches of snow, making it their greatest 24-hour snowfall on record.

Be sure to check out the 2011 Farmers’ Almanac to find out what’s in store for the coming winter season and beyond …