You are browsing the Weather category
January 31, 2007
It is often said that baseball is a game of inches. There are many times during a game when an inch or two difference in the location of the ball would change a strike to a ball, a swing and a miss to a hit, a double to a home run, a catch from a error. On a much larger scale we can think of meteorology as a game of miles. The last two snow... [continue]
| January 29, 2007
Congratulations go out this morning to Prospect Park. While other locations around the city recorded less than an inch of snow last night, the Prospect Park spotter measured a whopping 2.5 inches. The greatest snowfall so far this winter! You know it's been a snowless winter when the headline in the Staten Island Advance says "New Bus Owner Rescues Riders from the Snow". The story is about a switchover in companies running the bus route... [continue]
January 26, 2007
Brrrr… An honest to goodness cold day! A low temperature in the single digits! Can you believe it? It's been nearly two years since it has been this cold. To be exact, the last time it was this cold was on January 28th, 2005, toward the end of an eleven day cold snap. Our current cold snap? A pathetic two days. That's not to take away from the sting of today's cold. The artic air... [continue]
January 24, 2007
Did you catch yesterday's Extra, Extra mention of the ice bridge that existed between Brooklyn and Manhattan 140 years ago? We were quite taken by the story —Henry Ward Beecher and his wife were a couple of the intrepid ice crossers— that we looked up the Times version of the story. There's a great story from one of the crossers which we've excerpted here. Of the ice breakup the gentleman said "… an immense opening... [continue]
January 22, 2007
Today's our lucky day! As late as 4:30 this morning, Gothamist was having a little insomnia problem, the Weather Service was calling for widespread freezing rain during the morning rush. Thankfully, that threat and the mess it would have created, have passed and all we've got to worry about today is a few flurries. That's right, it may snow today. Just a few flurries now and again, with maybe a heavier snow shower this evening.... [continue]
Advertisement: Gothamist Continues Below!
January 19, 2007
Finally! At 5:42 this morning snow began falling in Central Park. At 7 a.m. observers in the park recorded the first measurable snowfall of the season. Thus the latest date for the first measurable snowfall in a winter season still belongs to January 29th, 1970. By 7:47 this morning thousands of people were observed taking photographs of the astonishing half-inch of snow. Snow also fell in Southern California yesterday. Across Europe a massive storm,... [continue]
January 17, 2007
For the first time in more than a month it's actually chilly outside. A graph of yesterday's hourly temperatures tells the story. The day started out warm but temperatures pretty much fell continuously until a couple of hours ago. The normal daytime heating was overwhelmed by the onrush of cold arctic air. There was a 33 degree difference between yesterday's high and low temperatures. That's triple our normal daily temperature range in January, but it... [continue]
January 15, 2007
Tomorrow is going to be cold cold cold. Wednesday will be colder colder colder. Don't say that Gothamist didn't warn you! Winter, in the form of a nasty arctic front, is finally arriving. We won't get the ice storm that's been blamed for at least 21 deaths, and is currently lashing upstate, but the weather will turn sharply colder tomorrow. Today should be mild as the wind shifts to come from the south. The Weather... [continue]
January 12, 2007
Busy, busy day in the Gothamist weather center. First, yesterday's temperatures were exactly normal. Our high of 38 and low of 26 were precisely equal to the average high and low for January 11th. Thus Central Park's streak of above normal temperatures ends at 32 days. However, our streak of no below normal temperatures continues into its 34th day today. That streak is likely to end next week as major changes are taking place... [continue]
January 10, 2007
As if seeing snow wasn't shock enough, it's also cold out there today. Our high temperature will only eek up to about 37 this afternoon, with the wind making it feel much colder. However, today's cold isn't all that cold. The day should still end up a couple of degrees warmer than normal, extending our streak of warm weather to 32 days. But let's get back to the snow. The official National Weather Service observer... [continue]
Shortly before 10, Gothamist got a tip that it was snowing in Manhattan in the Flatiron district. Just a few minutes ago, we witnessed the first snowfall of the Winter outside our offices in Greenpoint. The snow seemed to be coming from a swath of dark clouds above us. Those clouds have since been replaced by blue skies. We tried to take a photo of the snow, but there was so little of it.... [continue]
January 8, 2007
It's raining! It's pouring! It's gassy! Finally, something other than warm weather to talk about. Most of the heaviest rain has already occurred, but there may be pockets of rain between now and early afternoon. The rain is happening in advance of an honest-to-goodness cold front. Once the front passes and the rain dissipates sharply cooler air will filter into town. Today's temperatures have probably already maxed out, and temperatures will be 15-20 degrees cooler... [continue]
January 7, 2007
What's a polar bear to do when it is 72 in January? Well, if you're a member of the Coney Island Polar Bear Club, you stage a silent protest. The Times reports eight members of the club cancelled their Saturday swim, because the water was too warm. Perhaps more interestingly, the News reports it was nine members of the club and the Post says ten! According to Polar Bear Club treasurer Tom McGann, yesterday was... [continue]
January 6, 2007
Holy crap it's warm out there! Today is, by far, New York's warmest January 6th since records began. The only question now is whether we will reach 73 degrees to become the city's warmest January day ever. With winds out of the southwest and slightly drier air arriving over the last couple of hours we may do it. The local media are having a field day with the wacky weather. Bicycle Habitat in SoHo... [continue]
January 5, 2007
In our year in review we forgot to mention that, in addition to being the sixth warmest year on record, last year was also the sixth wettest. Nearly sixty inches of precipitation fell on Central Park in 2006. That's nowhere near the rainiest year on record –80 inches in 1983, but about ten inches greater than average. By comparison, "rainy" Seattle only averages around 36 inches of precipitation a year. Today's precipitation will feature... [continue]
Advertisement: Gothamist Continues Below!
January 3, 2007
Gothamist was driving across southwestern Kansas late last April. It was a hot day, temperatures were well into the 90s, so we stopped for ice cream in Syracuse, Kansas. We got to talking to the ice cream shop owner and when they found out we were from New York City they said "New York? You get lots of snow there don't you? We haven't had snow in five years." From what we saw that... [continue]
January 1, 2007
Last year ended much as it began -warm, warm, warm. Last month was the third warmest December since records began in 1869. The average temperature in Central Park last year was 56.8 degrees, making 2006 the sixth warmest year on record. Seven of the city's ten warmest years have occurred since 1990. The first weather highlight last year was January's warmth. We saw record-breaking warm days, and the month was nearly nine degrees above... [continue]